Uninterested
by ShootingStar103
Summary: All of Yamato and Takeo's attempts to find "the girl" for Suna were in futile. While the two wonder if Suna will ever find his significant other, Suna just doesn't seem to care. When a new transfer student, Ryuu Yukio, shows up, he throws Suna's world off its axis. For the better or for the worse? Suna isn't sure.
1. Dislike

**Chapter 1. Dislike**

 **Brief A/N** : In my mind, Ryuu looks like Aki from Honto Yajuu. I apologize if this fanfiction does not strictly follow the anime's plot, since the anime is not finished yet (and I've only watched up to episode fourteen as of now). And... as a _heads up_ for those who are not interested in _yaoi_ , I would like to mention that this fanfiction will eventually contain _boy x boy_.

Disclaimer: I do not own My Love Story!, Honto Yajuu, nor the image used for the cover. I only "own" any of the OCs I create. Please ask for my permission and credit me if you decide to use any of my OCs-thanks!

* * *

It was just another Sunday. The people circled through the park leisurely and the sound of lively chatter was everywhere. Most of the park visitors (except for the ones who came Sunday on a regular basis) shot bewildered looks at the three teenagers sitting on a park bench near the water fountain. They were just about the oddest, most bizarre trinity the visitors had seen.

Sitting on the very right of the bench was a petite, doll like, female high school student, who was constantly laughing and talking in her silvery voice. Sitting next to her on the left was a mountainous, gorilla like... man? The majority of the passerby concluded that he was also a high school student because of his high school uniform. He was stuffing his face with garish (but delicious looking) sweets. Sitting on the very left was yet another high school student who looked like he could become a model. All the girls giggled and enthusiastically whispered about him. The three students were either oblivious of the stares and laughter of the passerby or (in Suna's case) chose to ignore it.

Yamato was in the middle of talking about the huge test that was coming up. Suddenly, she slapped her delicate hands on her thighs and jumped off the bench.

"Ah! I almost forgot to show you, Suna... Guess what!" Yamato frantically rummaged through her small handbag.

Suna and Takeo (who appeared to be extremely curious and was subconsciously invading Yamato's personal space by peering over her shoulder) waited for the girl to finish her scavenger-hunt for her phone.

"Yes, I found it! Here it is!" the young teenager celebrated, and she immediately flipped her cellphone open and turned it on.

Takeo's mouth morphed into a small "o" shape as he watched his girlfriend pull out a photo of a very attractive-looking student.

"Isn't she cute? She's one of my classmates, and she still doesn't have a boyfriend! She's also very smart-just like you Suna! You two should meet up some time!" Yamato squealed as she held her cellphone screen in front of Suna's face for him to see.

Takeo nodded furiously, and Suna could have sworn that Takeo's eyes were sparkling even brighter than the stars on a clear night.

"Thanks... but I'm fine," Suna forced the words out of his mouth as he waved his hands politely.

The excitement on the couple's faces went from a ten to a negative twenty.

Yamato pouted and whined, "Suna, when are you ever going to get a girlfriend?"

"Yeah, when? Don't worry Suna, I'll help you! It won't be a lot of trouble! I'll be here for you, you can count on me!" Takeo gave Suna one of his ridiculous grins and a thumbs up.

"Really, it's fine," Suna assured, standing up and letting out a small breath.

Yamoto and Takeo followed his suit, both letting out disappointed sighs.

Takeo was the last of the teens to stand up; when he did, a small child, who so happened to be walking by, stopped short in her steps and gawked at Takeo in awe. A few moments later, the child was pulled away by her mother, who admonished her child how dangerous it was to stand near strangers.

The three started to head back home. Takeo was going to walk Yamato back to her house, so Suna let the two lovebirds be. He walked back to his apartment, greeted his mother, entered his room, sat down on his swivel chair, then started to study. After a few hours, his mother called him out for dinner, which was wordlessly eaten in silence (in exception to the brief "itadakimasu" in the beginning and "gochisou sama" in the end). Suna went back to studying for another hour, took a shower, and went to bed around ten o' clock.

Once the lights were off and he was under his soft, warm blanket, Suna tried to sleep. For some reason, he ended up staring at the plain white ceiling of his bedroom and thinking about Takeo and Yamato's words earlier.

When Takeo had asked Suna how he felt about girls (by the sacred "Butt Tree"), Suna had told Takeo that he was just as interested in girls as all the other guys were. To be truthful, Suna had no interest in anybody except his friends. It wasn't like Suna couldn't tell who was considered "attractive", "unattractive", "intelligent", or "unintelligent". He knew pretty well who was and who wasn't; even so, those things didn't really matter to him, and he wouldn't like someone just because of their appearance or intellect.

Although Takeo thought that Suna's looks were a blessing, Suna bitterly thought of them as a curse. His peers worshiped Takeo because the impressive teen was not only athletically talented, he had a heart of gold.

Suna knew that unlike Takeo, who was a tattered, derelict treasure box with valuable jewels inside, he was just an ornate chest with only a few polished stones (of little worth). The girls only liked him because of his looks, not for who he was. Although they barely knew him, they were attracted to him like a bunch of moths drawn to the light of a lonely lamppost, only to recoil when they got too close, scorched by the heat. As much as the moths wanted to get near the center of the light, they couldn't. Suna was a master at keeping his secrets to himself and shutting others out. It just irked him that whoever "liked" him was only drawn to his outer shell. He knew that like the ornate chest, once the person opened the chest saw the few polished stones, they would be greatly disappointed and become disinterested.

The only two people who didn't judge or like him for his looks was Takeo and Yamato, his only friends.

Suna closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. There was no point in meditating on something that posed such small significance in his life. If the only two people who really cared for Suna were his friends, he didn't mind one bit. There was no point in finding someone else who didn't actually care for him anyways. He was fine with having just his two friends... even though he would get a little lonely at times.

The adolescent thought about his friends: foolish (but kindhearted), Takeo, and cheerful, caring Yamato. That was enough to make a small, rare smile grace Suna's face before he drifted into a deep slumber.

* * *

Suna proceeded with his usual routine: he got out of bed, made his bed, ate breakfast, brushed his teeth, changed into his school uniform, and walked to school with Takeo. Nothing was out of the ordinary... well, excluding the fact that Takeo saved a careless child from being hit by a car and accidentally ended up denting the automobile in the process. Suna wasn't sure if there was anything Takeo _couldn't_ do. Although they had been friends for a little over a decade, Takeo never failed to amaze Suna. It was refreshing for Suna to have someone constantly disturb the peace and bring something interesting into his boring, routine life.

As they walked through the school, all of the boys eagerly asked Takeo why his uniform was ripped. Almost the entire male population could be heard yelling "AWESOME!" or "Takeo's so cool!"

On the other hand, the female population stayed distanced themselves from Takeo and continued with their gossip, huddling in their little circles. Strangely their topic (for once) did not completely revolve around Suna.

"Did you hear? A new transfer student is coming!" one of the girls whispered, but loud enough for Suna to hear as he was walking by.

"I know! Look, I even took a photo of him!" another girl squealed.

"Oh my gosh, he's such a hottie!"

"He's good-looking like Suna, but in a different way!"

"I know!"

A bunch of giggles rose into the air, and Suna resisted the urge to roll his eyes. At least he wouldn't be constantly pestered by the girls as often, there was someone else to split the attention.

"Hey, Takeo. Don't forget to tell your mother to fix your uniform when you get home," Suna flatly reminded his friend, nudging the giant.

Takeo grunted in reply and nodded. Suna tried to hide his smile when he thought of the car incident this morning.

The two friends walked into their classroom and sat in their respective seats. A few minutes later, the rest of the students filed their way into the room and filled the classroom with their boisterous chatter, even as they took their seats.

The school bell blared and drowned out all of the noisy students, leaving the room in silence. Their teacher, who was an elderly man with poor vision almost as bad as a bat, hobbled towards the front of the room with his books. He carefully set the books on the desk, before clearing his throat quietly. The students had to strain their necks towards the front of the room to pick up what he was saying.

"... Before I take attendance, I want to introduce..." the old man paused and took his time to clean his glasses with his white handkerchief.

After he was done, he shakily put on his glasses, picked up a paper on the desk, and held it very close to his face. The elderly man squinted intently at the paper. He looked like he was trying to burn a hole through the middle of it. The students waited in silence expectantly (the girls a little more eagerly than the boys).

Finally, the elderly man spoke up in his feeble voice, "... Yuu... Kio?" he looked up from his paper and looked around the room.

All of the students blankly stared at the teacher. The silence was so heavy that the classroom might as well have been empty.

Suddenly, a pleasant, baritone voice broke the silence, "Um... sorry sir, do you mean Ryuu Yukio?"

Everyone in the classroom turned their heads towards the back of the room, where a young man had his hand raised.

"Erm... yes. Excuse me. Please, Ryuu, would you come to the front of the room to introduce yourself?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Suna watched the new student stand up and walk towards the front to the room. Ryuu looked like one of the "bad boys" that the girls constantly mooned over from a shoujo manga. He had silky, black hair that swept from the sides of his head and large, amber eyes. Suna reverted his gaze to the window. He continued to watch the people walking on the sidewalk like a line of ants.

New students were usually popular for the first few days they were in school, but after a while, they would start to blend in with the crowd. Suna had no interest in new students.

"Ohayou goziamasu," Ryuu did a low, formal bow. All the girls in the room tried to contain their squeals.

"I'm Ryuu Yukio, I recently moved here with my sister and father from a nearby town. I hope that you'll treat me well," the new student grinned. The grin was enough to make the girls' hearts soar and the guys instantly want to befriend Ryuu.

When Ryuu made his way back to his desk, one of the more outgoing guys, Osamu, dared to offer his fist to the new student. Ryuu laughed and fist bumped his peer. Once Ryuu sat down, the teacher began with his lecture and disorder ensued.

The girls inconspicuously had their phones out and were furiously texting each other.

" _No doubt about the new student,"_ Suna thought to himself.

He rested his cheek on his hand and tried focus on the lecture. It was hard to because simultaneously he was trying to drown out the sounds of rustling paper being passed to the new student from the rest of the boys in class.

 _"Today's going to be a long day."  
_

* * *

During lunch, there was a huge rush. All the boys crowded around Takeo and Ryuu while the girls stayed on the other side, whispering and occasionally glancing over at Ryuu.

"Hi, my name's Ryuu," the new student extended his hand to Takeo, who shook it a little too fast.

"I'm Takeo," the giant replied, leaning a little too close to the other male.

"Oi, Takeo, back off. You're too close to his face," Suna sighed, tapping Takeo's shoulder.

The giant still continued to stare in his unintentionally intimidating way, but he eventually moved away.

"It's OK," Ryuu smiled and clapped Takeo's back.

"Your name is?" the teen asked, staring at Suna and tilting his head to the side.

"Sunakawa Makoto," Suna tersely replied, looking to the side. He didn't want to get too involved with someone whom he barely knew.

"Can I call you Suna for short?" Ryuu offered his hand to Suna and one of his charming smiles (which had no effect on Suna).

Suna gave a nonchalant shrug (which Ryuu assumed was yes) and shook the offered hand briefly.

"Anyways, Ryuu! I heard that you were _really_ good at all of the sports in your school, just like Takeo!" Osamu interjected enthusiastically, eagerly looking at Ryuu.

"Well... not all of them..." Ryuu sheepishly scratched the back of his head and laughed, "My specialty is track."

Suna wasn't surprised. Ryuu looked like he was naturally meant to be a runner. He had long legs and was very lean.

"Hey, why don't you try arm wrestling with Takeo?" another boy asked.

"Yeah!" the boys chorused all together.

"Sure, why not," Ryuu grinned and turned towards Takeo.

The boys closely followed the two to a nearby table and watched intently as the two sat down on the side opposite of each other.

"Three. Two. One. START!" a male student yelled, chopping his hand dramatically through the air.

Everyone in the room went silent, and all of the students stared at the two. Ryuu seemed to be evenly matched with Takeo, until after a few more seconds, he gave out.

The whole room erupted with a series of "wows" and "amazings".

"Awesome! I've never seen anyone last that long arm wrestling with Takeo!" a student yelled.

The boys were awestruck and the girls were love-struck.

"Handsome _and_ strong! I think I'm in love," sighed one of the girls as she fanned her face.

Suna was the only person who didn't appear to be impressed. He had his arms crossed and was sitting in one of the chairs in the corner of the room, where none of the students were.

* * *

School felt longer than usual for Suna, but for the rest of the students it went by too fast. They were all intrigued by the new student.

Once the final bell rung, Suna slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked over to Takeo, who was currently sleeping.

"Takeo. Takeo. Idiot. Apeman," Suna deadpanned, sighing, he tried again.

"Yamato-san."

 _Bang_

The giant slammed his large hands on his desk and immediately woke up, looking around frantically.

"It's time to go home," Suna said quietly, waiting for his friend to finish packing his backpack.

The two left the classroom together and started to walk back to their apartment complex.

"Ryuu seems like a nice guy," Takeo mentioned, looking up at the sky with wide eyes.

Suna yawned, "I guess you can believe that."

Suddenly, a loud shout caused the two friends to spin around.

"Oiiii! Wait up!" Ryuu ran up to Takeo and Suna. He looked like he had just taken a light jog, he didn't appear to be tired at all.

"I noticed that you two were up ahead. Do you guys also live in that apartment complex?" Ryuu pointed to Takeo and Suna's apartment.

Takeo nodded, "You can walk with us if you like," the giant offered with a large smile.

"Sure!" Ryuu grinned.

While Ryuu and Takeo started to eagerly talk about the latest sports and the upcoming Olympics, Suna purposely trailed behind.

Eventually, the two stopped talking.

"Hey, where's Suna?" Ryuu asked, whipping his head from the left to the right.

Takeo stared dumbly in front of him. It was only until Takeo turned around, he spotted the quiet teen.

"Oh, there's Suna! Hey! Suna!" Takeo waved his hands wildly, causing all the people around him to duck and scurry away.

Suna raised his hand and then let it fall limply by his side. Ryuu and Takeo waited for him to catch up.

"Are you alright? I'm sorry if I was cutting you out of the conversation," Ryuu apologized, looking genuinely concerned.

"I'm fine. Just a bit tired," Suna said, staring at the two with his usual poker face.

Takeo sensed something was off too, "Are you sure?"

"Like I said, I'm fine. Just a bit tired," Suna tried his best not to snap and continued to walk past the two.

The jocks looked at each other and shrugged. Suna made sure that he was ahead of the two the entire time. When they reached the apartment, to the teenagers' shock, they found out that Ryuu also lived on the same apartment floor. Suna vaguely remembered his mother telling him about the new neighbors moving in, but he hadn't been paying much attention to what she was saying.

"Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow," Suna gave a small waved and shut the door behind him.

He greeted his mother and went into his room.

Strangely enough, Suna didn't immediately start studying; instead, he laid his head in his arms and stared out the window.

Ryuu Yukio. Although the new student was a likable guy, Suna decided that he didn't like Ryuu. With a friend as popular as Ryuu _and_ a girlfriend, Takeo wouldn't be able to spend as much time as he used to with Suna. Suna knew that it was selfish and petty of him to hold a grudge against someone who wasn't a bad person, but he couldn't help it. He let out a sigh and started to take his books out of his bag.

* * *

 **A/N July 12, 2015**

OC(s) introduced: Ryuu Yukio

Well, that's that's the end of the first chapter. I hope that it was at least somewhat interesting? I spent almost four hours typing this up, and it didn't help that I lost one page of this chapter... so I had to retype an _entire page_...

Please don't expect Suna to "fall in love" quickly. I feel like he's the kind of person who takes a while to warm up to somebody. So... no kissing in the next chapter XD. I want Suno to actually find love, not lust.

I guess that this fanfiction can technically be thought of as an "AU" since this is happening when Takeo and Suna are still first-years in Shuei High School. It's really weird creating an OC who's one of the main characters... This is the first time I've actually done something like this, so I hope that everything turns out alright.

Also, I'm still a little confused whether Osamu Kurihara is called "Osamu" or "Kurihara" (I did a quick search and I still couldn't figure out which "name" to use). I'm assuming that he's called Osamu by his friends, since he's an outgoing guy and would probably let others call him by his first name.

Until the next chapter,

-ShootingStar103

(P.S. Ryuu means dragon spirit and Yukio means Happy Hero)


	2. Ice King

**Chapter 2. Ice King  
**

Suna read his favorite book while he waited for his mother to finish cooking breakfast. The silent teen was absorbed in his book; he was trapped his own little world. Although he was physically there, mentally he was in a different dimension. Suna was as good as deaf. His mind subconsciously drowned out the sounds of the hissing skillet frying fresh fish, the bubbling pot boiling savory miso soup, and the rice cooker beeping. Suna may as well have been anosmatic too. The aroma of homemade breakfast filled the entire household and spread outside; all the neighbors on the same floor noticed the pleasant scent and their mouths watered. On the other hand, Suna's mind didn't register the fragrance, it stubbornly ignored it.

"Makoto, yesterday I bumped into our new neighbor, the gentleman next door. Did you know that he has a son your age?" Suna's mother mentioned, turning off the rice cooker and opening the lid. She waved the steam rising from the rice cooker out of her face and neatly scooped the rice into two bowls.

His mother's voice brought him back to Earth, and Suna placed his bookmark where he left off and his book inside his bag.

"Yes, I met him yesterday," Suna quietly answered. He didn't want to talk too much about the new student.

"Ah, so how is he? Nice? He should be, considering how polite his father was," the slightly aging woman placed two bowls of rice on the spotless table. She walked back to the counter to fetch the fish.

"I guess. He's popular with the boys."

"Just like Takeo, huh?" after Suna's mother transferred the golden fish from the skillet to two plates, she walked over to the table again to set the two plates on the flat surface.

"... I suppose," Suna reluctantly (and almost bitterly) admitted. He let himself stare into space. It pained him to acknowledge that Ryuu wasn't a bad person. It was so much easier to hate someone when he or she was a terrible person. It was more difficult to dislike someone when he or she was a decent person and didn't deserve the hate. It annoyed Suna to no end because he felt extremely guilty for holding such a grudge.

"Is he also popular with the gir- _ouch!_ " Suna's mother hissed and set down the bowls filled with steaming miso soup on the counter.

"Are you alright?" Suna got out of his chair and went to his mother's side.

"Ah, I'm so clumsy, I wasn't looking where I was going," Suna's mother laughed, but she was obviously in pain, "I'll be fine, it's probably just a minor burn."

Suna frowned when saw that his mother's hand was a pinkish red. He led his mother to the kitchen sink and turned on the cold water. He gently took his mother's hand and held it under the faucet. After a few minutes, he turned off the faucet and told his mother to sit down while he got the first-aid kit. Suna's mother sighed and shook her head in exasperation because of her over-protective son. In a short amount of time, Suna reappeared with a roll of bandages in his hand and a pair of scissors. He kneeled by his mother's side and carefully wrapped her hand with the bandages and used the scissors to snip the gauze.

"Thank you Suna," Suna's mother smiled at her son as she affectionately ruffled his hair. Suna's eyes softened and he stood up to put the scissors and gauze away.

Before he sat down on the cushioned chair, Suna wiped the spilt soup off the counter and the floor with a paper towel, disposed the soggy towel, washed his hands, and brought the two bowls of miso soup to the table (he placed the bowl with less miso soup in front of himself and gave his mother the bowl with more soup).

"Itadakimasu," the mother and son picked up their chopsticks and started to eat.

After Suna finished his meal, he excused himself and washed all of his dishes in the sink. When his mother was done, he washed her dishes for her too.

By the time he completed his task, Suna looked up at the plain clock in between the pale blue cupboards. The short hand was pointing to the eight and the long hand was pointing to the three.

" _Takeo should be here any minute,"_ Suna glanced at the door and picked up his bag.

Two more minutes passed, and Suna contemplated whether he should leave or wait a little longer for his friend.

Three more minutes passed.

Just before Suna was about to reach for the doorknob, the doorbell rang. When Suna pressed the button on the monitor, he was greeted by Takeo's huge nose and eye, which were probably only a centimeter away from the camera lens.

"Takeo, take a few steps back," Suna ordered, accustomed to his friend's childish behavior. He watched Takeo take a few steps back, only to have his head cut off by the screen because he was too tall.

Suna stifled a little laugh, but his small smile disappeared in an instant when he saw who was next to Takeo. Ryuu.

"Hey, Suna! Are you coming out yet?" Ryuu asked, waving at the camera.

"Yes," Suna opened the door, but before he left, he called over his shoulder, "Take care mom."

Just before he closed the door, he heard his mother respond, "See you later Makoto!"

Suna turned around and looked at the two jocks in front of him.

"So is this really a camera?" Ryuu asked, pointing to the small, shiny circle above the small plaque that had the name Sunakawa printed on it.

Suna nodded in response.

"Woahhh, cool! In the town that I lived in, we never had stuff like this!" Ryuu did the same thing that Takeo did as a child, he shoved his eye in front of the camera lens and stared into it for a while like it was the most fascinating thing in the world.

Suna looked away, and he tried to stop himself from laughing at Ryuu, "Come on, we should go now. If we continue lagging on like this, we'll be late for school."

Suna started walking ahead of the two. It didn't take long for the jocks to hurry up after him. After they took the train and got out of the metro station, Ryuu and Takeo started to talk about the most ridiculous things they've done when they were little.

"Suna, what's the craziest thing you've done?" Ryuu asked, jogging up to the quiet teen.

Suna shrugged and stayed silent.

"Yeah, I figured that much. You seem like someone who would be a perfect child," Ryuu let out an exaggerated sigh and slung his arm around Suna's neck. Suna tried to duck under Ryuu's arm.

Takeo loomed over Ryuu and gave a menacing stare, "Suna doesn't like physical contact."

Ryuu immediately backed off with his hands in the air, "Ah, sorry, sorry! I didn't know," he turned to Suna, "Excuse me," Ryuu did a little bow. Suna found Ryuu's interchangeable casual and polite demeanor extremely baffling.

"It's OK, and there's no need to be so formal," Suna continued to avoid eye contact with Ryuu and stared directly ahead.

Ryuu watched Suna walk ahead of Takeo and him for the third time this morning. The teen shook his head a little, perplexed.

"Is he usually like this?" he turned to Takeo, once Suna was out of earshot.

"Uh... Suna doesn't like to talk a lot. He's been like that since he was a kid. He also doesn't like making new friends," Takeo explained as best as he could without using complex, long sentences.

"Ah, I see," Ryuu nodded, "So he doesn't have any friends?" the teen looked a little concerned, "Poor guy..."

"No!" Takeo bellowed, causing Ryuu to jump (and the people around them), "Suna has me and my girlfriend Yamato," Takeo thumped his chest like a gorilla and snorted loudly.

"Suna is a good friend. Very good! He's always there to help me-and Yamato!" Takeo shouted and waved his arms around randomly for emphasis.

"... Huh, I guess that I shouldn't have been so quick to judge him. I've always thought of him as some Ice King, but now that I think about it..." Ryuu went silent for a few seconds.

Takeo stared at Ryuu, he wondered what his new friend was thinking.

"Maybe he's afraid that he'll lose his only friend to me..." Ryuu quietly murmured to himself.

"Hey, Takeo, why don't you catch up to Suna? He looks pretty lonely by himself. I'll just stick near the back, I'll be fine," the teen suggested to Takeo.

"Right, Ryuu!" Takeo saluted seriously before he dashed over to Suna. The time it took for the giant to reach Suna's side probably could have broken the world record for timed sprints.

Ryuu watched Suna turn to Takeo with a seemingly placid face, but even from a distance, Ryuu could tell from Suna's eyes that the teen was glad to have his friend next to him. Ryuu smiled to himself, satisfied.

* * *

 **Review Replies:  
**

Guest: Yeah, Suna is pretty cute in his awkward, antisocial way XD. Unfortunately, Ryuu doesn't like him. Yet. As much as I'd love to pull off the "love at first sight" scenario in this fanfiction, I really feel like it wouldn't suit Suna or Ryuu's personality. Suna (from what I've observed) is the kind of person who won't let someone get close to him easily. On the other hand, Ryuu is the kind of person who wants to know someone at least decently well before he decides he likes them (sorry for the long, boring explanation). They'll figure it out later, don't worry :) Sorry, that's all I can say for now. I don't want to spoil too much.

Stevenbomb2015: I hope that the fandom grows bigger; My Love Story! is such a good anime, it deserves more fans. Also, thank you so much! I was really motivated to write more after reading your review!

 **A/N July 13, 2015**

Well guys, that's the end of this brief, uneventful second chapter. To be truthful, this chapter was more of a filler (and a way to get more of a glimpse of Ryuu's character). The next two chapters involve more drama and not-so-happy-themes. I probably won't be able to get the next chapter out until Thursday or Friday (maybe later, I'm super busy with summer school homework and prepping for the SAT _and_ the ACT, which is ridiculously time-consuming). I wonder if college has more homework than high school... I'm starting to lose my appetite... I better stop thinking about school-work before I hurl.

I'd also like to apologize for all the typos in this chapter (I'm assuming there are still a lot of them I haven't caught yet, even though I did proofread this three times). I'll make sure that I'll edit this chapter when I have the time. When I'm under a lot of pressure *cough* parents and their high expectations *cough*, my editing skills and my creativity decrease dramatically... Yeah, it's probably better for me to finish the next chapter during the weekend so that the quality of my writing isn't crap... like right now...

Thanks for reading, and hopefully you guys are having a less stressful summer than me,

-ShootingStar103


	3. The Balloon Savior

**Chapter 3. The Balloon Savior  
**

The week passed by slowly but steadily for Suna. Today was Friday. The moment the final bell rang, almost all of the students (and a few of the teachers) had radiant smiles on their faces that put the sun's magnificent brilliance to shame.

"Class excused," the young, female professor announced, letting out a relieved sigh.

The students immediately grabbed their backpacks and quickly streamed out of the classroom. A few happy hoots and loud laughs could be heard from the hallway. In amused exasperation, the professor shook her head at the ruckus and chaos coming from the outside. Before she left the room, she jogged her stack of lecture notes against her desk and took her black laptop bag with her.

Suna was left in the classroom with Takeo; the teen was waiting patiently for his friend to regain full consciousness after a three-hour nap that lasted throughout Japanese and science.

Takeo let out an extremely loud yawn, which shook the building slightly (strangely enough, Suna managed to keep his balance without breaking a sweat or changing his impassive face). The giant blinked sleepily and squinted at Suna through his bleary eyes.

"Come on you big oaf, it's time to head home," Suna said, standing next to his best friend with his backpack already packed and slug over his shoulder. Ryuu wasn't walking home with them today since he had track meets on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Suddenly, a quiet but high-pitched voice pierced the air, "Um... Suna... do you have moment alone?"

Suna didn't let his annoyance taint his placid face; he turned around to look at the nervous female student standing in front of the doorway.

When Takeo slowly looked to the right, the moment he saw the blushing girl staring at Suna, a big, bright light bulb appeared in his brain. The giant immediately leapt out of his chair and inhaled loudly, making him sound like some sort of terrifying vacuum.

"Suna! I need to do something! I'm going now!" Taeko bellowed, clenching his right fist in front of his face.

Suna's expressionless facade almost broke down when he heard Takeo's failed attempt of an excuse. He had obviously tried to copy Suna's method of excusing himself.

Right before he bolted out of the room, Takeo clapped Suna's back (in what was meant to be in a comforting way, but it ended up as more of a death blow) and reassured his friend, "It's going to be fine!"

Luckily Suna recovered quickly and regained his perfect posture.

The giant disappeared from view, running close to (or as fast as) the speed of sound. After a few more seconds, out of the corner of his eye, Suna saw his friend burst out of the school doors and run down the streets. The civilians were startled by the large gust of wind that rustled their clothes and the blurry, tall figure of a bulky teenager zooming down the block.

Suna reverted his gaze towards the girl, who was wringing her hands timidly and looking at the ground. Then there was an uncomfortable, strained silence between Suna and the female student. It lasted for half a minute. Suna might as well have conversed with the empty desks and the spotless, green chalkboard. When the student dared to look up, she saw Suna staring directly at her, let out a little gasp, turned a darker shade of red, and looked back down at the ground.

"... I... uh...," she unconsciously tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, "I... wa-was wondering i-if you could come with me to the classroom next do-door," the poor girl stuttered, a nervous wreck.

Suna nodded quietly and followed the fidgety girl into the classroom. He knew all too well what was going to happen next. The classroom was unofficially dubbed "the Confession Room" by the girls. It had become a tradition for them to confess to Suna in that very room.

The girl almost fell over when she entered "the Confession Room"; she was so anxious that she somehow bumped into the trash can, knocking it over.

 _thump_

The plastic bin hit ground, emptying its unappealing contents on the originally clean, wooden floor. The girl let out a little squeak and jumped to the side, barely avoiding the mess in time.

"I'll get the broom and the dust pan," Suna notified the girl, walking over to the closet in the back of the room and fetching the items.

He returned with a mini broom and dust pan in hand and squatted down, sweeping the trash up.

"I-I'm so sorry!" the girl cried, setting the trash can upright and gingerly picking up the pieces of trash that were not too dirty.

Suna didn't answer, and he continued to sweep up the rubbish into the small dustpan. In no time, he was finished, and he emptied the dustpan's contents into their rightful place, the trash can. The girl dusted the imaginary germs from her hands and looked up at Suna, who had stood up. Her face turned bright pink, and she clenched her fist to her chest as she slowly got up.

"Was there something you wanted to tell me?" Suna asked in his emotionless, mellow voice (which overcoated his boredom), knowing the answer already.

"Su-Suna... I like you!" the girl almost yelled, scrunching her eyes closed.

Suna's instantaneous response was, "I don't."

Those were the two simple words that broke several of the girls' hearts. The girl in front of Suna was already on the verge of tears. For a while, they stayed there in silence before Suna left the room.

Suna didn't want to waste time comforting the girl, since he just wanted to get the message across to her (no matter how much it hurt her). After this incident, the girl would most likely lose all interest in him and see him for whom he really was (and probably wonder why she liked him in the first place). Suna knew that the girls deserved better than just a pretty face and good looks. They needed someone who could understand, cheer up, and comfort them. He wasn't that kind of guy.

He wondered what the girl expected. A heart-felt confession on his part? For some reason, the girls always thought if they confessed to Suna, he would miraculously fall in love with them (which sadly wasn't the case). Suna wondered why Takeo thought that he would like this girl. Suddenly, Suna remembered.

 _"When Takeo left the room... he forgot his backpack in our classroom,"_ Suna let out a small sigh and headed back to the classroom.

Just when he was outside of the classroom, Suna heard someone sliding the window open. He stayed by the doorway and peeked inside, checking who was in the classroom. To his surprise, he saw Ryuu in his track uniform, which consisted of a clean, white shirt with two red stripes on the side and dark, knee-level shorts.

"Hey, don't worry! I'll get your balloon for you!" Ryuu shouted out the window, cupping his hands around his mouth and looking down at someone.

Suna could hear the sound of a child bawling, which decreased slightly after Ryuu's reassurance. When Suna looked out the window, he saw a red balloon that had its ribbon tangled in one of the tree branches of the large tree near their classroom.

 _"Don't tell me he's going to jump..."_

Suna was proven correct once he saw Ryuu climb onto the windowsill.

 _"The idiot!"_ Suna rushed towards the boy, but by the time he was half-way across the room, the audacious teen had already leapt off the windowsill. It wasn't like the classroom was on the first story of the school, it was on the third. If Ryuu missed, he could possibly break some bones... or worse, be paralyzed for life.

Suna could only watch, wide-eyed. This was one of the few times Suna's heart seemed to stop in his chest and everything moved in slow motion.

 _Whoosh_

A few leaves on the tree branch were shaken free and the limb of the tree bobbed up and down.

Ryuu miraculously made it, and he was firmly hanging onto the tree branch with both of his hands. With the ease of a skilled, graceful gymnast, Ryuu swung his legs and used his momentum to do a *kip. From there, he hoisted himself onto the tree and sat comfortably on the branch.

Suna let out the breath that he didn't realize he was holding. He stood in the middle of the room, watching Ryuu dexterously untangling the balloon's ribbon.

"Just give me a few seconds! I'll get it down for you, OK?" Ryuu called, smiling reassuringly at the child.

It didn't take long for Ryuu disentangle the ribbon. When he did, he turned to his right and saw Suna staring at him. Judging by Suna's expression, he had obviously seen Ryuu jump out of the window. The two teenagers spent a few moments staring at each other in silence. Suddenly, Ryuu broke the quietude when he started to chuckle.

"Let this be our little secret," Ryuu made a hushing motion with his index finger, giving Suna a mischievous smile.

Suna continued to stare at Ryuu, but eventually he nodded slowly.

"Thanks," Ryuu gave Suna a grateful grin and saluted before he scooched his way to the tree trunk and slid down.

Suna found himself picking up Takeo's surprisingly light backpack (which was probably missing the homework and books needed for today) and walking towards the open window. He watched Ryuu kneel down to the child (who was now laughing), hand back the run-away balloon, and ruffle the child's hair affectionately before he ran back to the field.

After staring at the corner where Ryuu had disappeared for a while, Suna started his walk back to his apartment. As he made his way through the bustling crowds and stepped into the subway station, he was lost in deep thought.

In Suna's mind, there was a small struggle. A part of him still wanted to hold a grudge against Ryuu, but the other half was strongly against it. In the end, it didn't take long for the other half to engulf the resisting part. Suna no longer had the will to dislike Ryuu. Subconsciously, his body autopileted itself and walked into the next train.

Suna's grip on the metal bar of the train tightened slightly. It took the teen a few seconds to register that he was now on the train. When the train came to a jolting stop, Suna managed to stay perfectly balanced (unlike the man next to him, who was dressed like a *yazuka; he was sent stumbling and failing his arms around).

After eight minutes, Suna reached the apartment complex. Before he went into his own apartment, he knocked on the Gouda's door.

"Yes, yes coming," Takeo's mother, Yuriko Gouda, answered from behind the door in her raspy voice.

The door swung open, and behind it was a woman of short stature and stout build wearing a well worn apron.

"Oh, Makoto-kun, good-evening. Come in. Do you want to see Takeo? He's in his room right now," Yuriko said casually while drying a plate with a red towel in her right hand.

"Yes, *ojama shimasu," Suna took off his shoes and put on the almost transparent, thin guest slippers.

Yuriko walked ahead and opened Takeo's door without knocking.

"Oi, Takeo. Makoto's here," Yuriko announced, peering into her son's cluttered, messy bedroom.

Sitting on the unmade bed was Takeo, staring intensely at a girl's shoujo manga. He had changed out of his school uniform into a plain white T-shirt and black shorts. Takeo appeared to be so engaged in the manga that he didn't notice his mother or Suna, who walked in.

Suna made his way through the filthy bedroom, careful not to step on any already crumpled papers, wrinkly clothes, or empty food wrappers.

"Moron, you forgot your backpack in school," Suna informed the giant (who didn't appear to be listening), dropping the backpack next to Takeo. The bag bounced on Takeo's bed; the large teen noticed the subtle movement and looked up from his book.

"Hm? Oh, it's you Suna. I'm very busy right now, see? Very busy! That's why I needed to leave early!" Takeo thrust the book out of his face and pointed proudly at it.

"I see," Suna replied. He could already predict what Takeo was going to say next.

"Yamato gave me this book. It's very interesting! Having a girlfriend is very nice. Suna, do you have a girlfriend now?" Takeo asked, towering over his friend.

"No," Suna stated, watching all the excitement being wiped clean off Takeo's face. The giant's shoulders slumped, and he sulked over in the corner, hugging his knees to his chest.

"Hey, don't worry too much about me. I have you and Yamato, and that's enough for me," the teen sat down on Takeo's bed and picked up the manga Takeo was reading.

The teen flipped through the manga. Suddenly, a shadow fell over Suna's face.

"... Takeo, why did Yamato give you shonen ai?"

Suna instantly regretted looking through the book, which was filled with lots of erotic and dirty drawings involving two (or _more_ ) males engaging in... "social activities".

"Shonen ai?" Takeo immediately turned towards Suna, "Oh. That's what it's called. Yamato gave it to me and said that this is what boys do. Boys who are really close to each other."

If Suna wasn't a master of self-control, he would have facepalmed. Feeling awkward, Suna set down the manga book and stood up.

"I should probably start on my homework," Suna said as he headed towards the door, "Don't forget to start yours," he admonished Takeo.

The giant grunted in response, he had picked up the manga and seemed extremely engrossed in the book.

Suna said goodbye to Takeo's mother before he took off the soft, green slippers and slipped on his normal shoes. He closed the door behind him and walked over to his apartment's door. Suna rang the doorbell once. Silence. He pressed the small, square button again. Nothing.

Suna frowned slightly and took his keys out of his bag.

 _"That's strange... where could mom have gone? Unless... don't tell me,"_ the teen unlocked the door and walked into the apartment.

"Mom?" he called, closing the door and looking around.

He was greeted with unsettling silence. Suna went into his room and stopped dead in his tracks in front of his desk when he saw a handwritten note on his laptop. He picked it up with a pitting feeling in his stomach.

 _Makoto, our home phone broke down today, so I wasn't able to call you._

 _Please come to the hospital as soon as possible._

 _-Mom_

Suna's hands shook slightly when he finished reading the note.

* * *

 **Review Replies**

Stevenbomb2015: Takeo's my favorite characters in the anime (not just because he's used as a comedy relief character, but because of the kind, heartwarming actions that he makes), so I like to challenge myself and write him in character. He always brings a smile to my face whenever I'm watching My Love Story!

I'm glad that you like Ryuu! I think that in the later chapters (when I say later, I mean _really_ late) I'll be able to fit in Ryuu giving Suna a piggyback ride. ;) I already planned out most of the chapters, so tomorrow I'll probably stay up to midnight or wake up early in the morning to continue thinking out the story's plot. By the way, that was a really awesome idea! If you have any more, please let me know! I need more ideas for future chapters :)

I'll try to stay on top of my studies (instead of procrastinating) so that I won't get too stressed XD

Frostlesskiss: One of my favorite things about Suna is how loyal he is to his friends (to me, that's what makes him cute XD). It doesn't matter what Takeo or Yamato's going through, he's always there to lend them a helping hand. When Ryuu comes into the picture, Suna becomes jealous and afraid that his best friend will be taken away.

In this chapter, Suna's grudge has slowly disappeared and he's starting to have positive feelings for Ryuu. The next step is for Suna to be helped by Ryuu at a personal level, which I'm really excited to write about.

It really makes me really happy that you like Ryuu and the story so far, and thank you so much for your encouragement!

Guest (Chapter 1): Wow! Thanks! I'm really flattered that you like this fanfiction. It's pretty unusual for me to make one of my OCs one of the main characters, but for Suna I could sort of tell that he probably wouldn't get a girlfriend (or a boyfriend, who knows?) in the anime. (Watch me get proven wrong in the next episode XD).

I didn't write a Takeo and Suna fanfiction because they're my brotp! Best friends at the best! Also, Takeo has Yamato, and I think that they're pretty cute (I know, I know, it's shocking that I actually ship a few straight couples). But that's just my opinion, I totally respect Takeo and Suna shippers. :) I'm almost positive that there will eventually be a Takeo and Suna fanfiction that pops up X). I was reading a few of the forums, and it looks like some people really ship it. There should be one that comes up sooner or later, so don't fret too much!

Guest (Chapter 2): Um, thanks I guess? XD That's an interesting perspective of the second chapter. I'll try to update as soon as I can!

a-faux-pas: I'm glad that you like how things are turning out in this fanfiction. :) Usually when I find a fanfiction interesting or fun to write, I always hope that my readers have a similar feeling when they read my fanfiction!

 **Terms that are (probably) unfamiliar to most readers**

 ** _Kip:_** I'd suggest looking up a video of a gymnast doing a kip. It's hard for me to explain since I'm not a professional gymnast.

 ** _Yazuka:_** basically a Japanese gangster.

 ** _Ojama shimasu:_** one of the phrases someone usually says before entering another person's home in Japan. It's like saying excuse me.

 **A/N July 16, 2015**

Ok, that's the end of Chapter Three (and hopefully it was better than Chapter Two). I still need to edit this chapter again since I could barely find any typos, and that usually means that I'm skipping over a _bunch_ of them... not good! I can picture all the grammarists having throwing a fit over all the typos, punctuation errors, comma splices, etc. Yes, I just made up that term. Grammarist. A person who is obsessed with grammar and spelling (there's probably a term that already exists for them, but I don't feel like looking it up right now).

Chapter Four should be a decently long chapter. I'm not sure how much time it'll take me to finish it, but hopefully not _too_ long.

Well, until the next chapter! And as always, thank you for reading!

-ShootingStar103


	4. Uncertainty

**Chapter 4. Uncertainty  
**

Suna mechanically made his way out of his apartment, locked the door behind him, got onto the train, got off the train, walked out of the metro station, and walked to the hospital. The sterile, glass doors immediately slid open for him the moment he stepped onto the flat, plain black mat. The familiar, stark walls of the hospital greeted him as he walked up to the counter, feeling hollow on the inside.

The young receptionist was on the telephone, busy informing the person on the other line about the hospital hours. She glanced up and saw Suna.

The receptionist briefly placed her hand over the telephone's microphone and apologized, "Sorry, please give me a moment," before she resumed her conversation.

"Yes, yes... Do you have anymore questions?" she paused for a few moments (Suna could hear the grateful squeaking of the client on the other end), "Ok, glad I could help! Have a pleasant evening. Bye... bye."

The receptionist smiled and hung up. She let out a small breath and entwined her fingers together.

"Hello, how may I help you?" asked the polite receptionist, beaming at the high school student.

"I'm here to see my father, Sunakaw-" before Suna could finish, he was interrupted by someone calling his name.

"Oh, Suna! Sunakawa-san, Ai! I found him!"

Suna and the receptionist looked over in the direction of the person who had suddenly cried out Suna's name. It was Oda, who was extending his right arm high into the air and waving it so that he was easier to see.

 _Click click click click_

Ai was jogging as fast as she could in her three and half inch heels. Not too far behind her was Suna's mother, who was panting quietly and trying to keep up.

"Excuse me, I think that I've found who I was looking for," Suna said, giving the receptionist a curt nod.

The receptionist did a small bow and gave Suna a slightly amused smile.

Suna walked over to the three. Almost immediately, Ai rushed towards her brother.

"Makoto!" Ai cried, embracing her brother in a heartfelt hug. Tears were already starting to cascade down her face.

Usually Suna tried to avoid any form of physical contact, but this was an exception. He knew that his sister was extremely upset, and she needed to cling onto someone for comfort (who was not Oda). Suna pet his sister's back softly, ignoring all the curious, nosy gazes the people in the waiting room were shooting them. The siblings stayed like that for a while. Suddenly, Ai grabbed Suna's shoulders while she looked down at the ground, shaking with sobs.

"How is dad?" Suna inquired softly, careful not to ask anything too specific.

Ai didn't answer, her body was still racking with silent sobs. Suna looked over at his mother, who looked unusually pale and weary. It was Oda who spoke up.

"Suna... Your father is undergoing another operation. He may not..." Oda trailed off, his annoyingly cheerful, carefree voice had lost all of its sunniness.

Suna knew that this was going to happen. So why was he so affected by the news? There was an uncomfortably heavy piece of lead weighing down his heart.

He gently took Ai's hands off his shoulders and started to walk away.

"Wait... Makoto, where are you going?" Ai asked, finally looking up at her brother with her swollen, red eyes.

Suna didn't respond immediately. He didn't turn around either when he eventually did reply.

"... I need some time alone," Suna said monotonously, "I'll probably take a while. Please go home first," he added.

He left the three alone in the waiting room.

Suna didn't know where he was going. He just wanted to get away from everyone. His feet kept on moving by themselves.

He reached a part of the hospital where he couldn't hear or see anyone else. The only sound audible was his shoes tapping against the clean, cold, smooth tile floor of the hospital. When he rounded the corner, he saw a little room that was probably meant for children.

Wooden blocks laid scattered across the floor, and a knocked over empty blue bin laid neglected in the corner of the room. A half-built tower was in the middle of it all. A bright, colorful plastic mat was used as a floor instead of the hard tile outside. The curtains were parted, allowing the remaining sunlight to drift through the window into the empty playroom. Suna sat down on one of the blue plastic chairs and clasped his hands together, hanging his head low.

The vibrant, jovial ambiance of the room didn't match Suna's growing feeling of despair.

 _splat_

The first tear splattered on his hand. It was wet and warm.

 _splat splat_

The second and the third.

Suna's tears started to rain down, and they silently slipped down his face.

" _Dad_ , _I'm so sorry. I can't do anything for you right now... and... I really wish that I could... please, please, forgive me... forgive me,_ " the anguished adolescent pleaded.

Suna didn't know how long he stayed like that. Whether it was five, ten, or thirty minutes, he honestly didn't care less.

He was so immersed in his sorrow that he didn't notice the footsteps of someone walking into the playroom.

"Hey... are you alright?" asked a familiar voice.

Suna instinctively looked up. He instantly regretted doing so. There was Ryuu, who was frowning slightly and looking concerned.

The teen answered Ryuu with a wry laugh as more tears continued to stream down his face. He quickly wiped them away, furious with himself that someone had seen his vulnerable side. Still frowning, Ryuu took a seat in the chair next to Suna's. Ryuu rested his elbows on his thighs and stared at the wall; Suna wasn't sure whether Ryuu was giving him time to calm down or whether the other teen was pondering what he should do. After a couple of moments of silence (which were neither awkward nor comfortable) Ryuu finally spoke.

"You know, my sister, Manami, has acute lymphocytic leukemia-that's why I'm here. She was diagnosed with leukemia about a little more than half a year ago. Since we lived in a town that was far away from the hospital, my father decided to move to the city, where my sister could get better treatment," Ryuu stopped talking for a little bit and took in a deep breath.

He smiled sorrowfully and continued, "In a way, my sister's more mature than me, even though she's only thirteen. When she was first diagnosed, I took it a lot worse than her. It pained me to see my sister as her beautiful, long hair fell out and her face became so thin and pale. I stopped making friends and I stopped being myself. It was only until one day, she told me that when I was unhappy, she was too. She told me to be happy for her, and to continue living like I should. Manami said that she would feel guilty if I was prevented from living my life to its fullest because of her."

Ryuu turned his head towards Suna, and his expression turned serious, "I know that I can't speak for whomever you're worrying about, but I think that they'd tell you the same thing."

Suna looked at Ryuu, speechless.

He thought of his father, who always wanted the best for his sister and him. The heavy weight in his heart seemed to lighten a little.

"Your sister does seem pretty selfless and wise for her age. I'd like to visit her sometime,"Suna said thoughtfully, smiling softly.

"Actually, you can meet Manami now. She wouldn't mind-in fact, she would probably like to see a new face other than mine once in a while," Ryuu smirked, standing up and offering Suna a hand.

Suna looked at the hand in front of his face for a second before he took it. Ryuu hoisted Suna up with little difficultly. As the two walked out of the playroom and into the hospital hallways, Ryuu explained to Suna that most of the time, leukemia patients stayed with their families and came to the hospital for regular treatment, but his father decided that it was better for Manami to stay in the hospital so that she could have the doctor's full attention every day. Ryuu visited Manami whenever he could so that she wouldn't be so lonely.

Soon, they reached a wooden door. Ryuu knocked twice on the door.

"Manami, I'm coming in. I have someone with me, is that OK?" Ryuu asked, waiting for his sister's reply.

"Sure, come in," Suna heard the slightly weary voice of a young girl behind the door.

Ryuu twisted the polished, brass knob of the door, and he swung the door open slowly. The two high school students made their way into the small room. Laying on the hospital bed near the window was a fragile looking girl. She looked deathly pale and thin, and her hair was all gone. The only thing that made her look alive was her buoyant beam the moment she saw her brother enter the room. Her smile grew when she saw Suna. She had the same eyes as Ryuu; they were large, pure amber, and sparkling with life.

"Manami, this is Suna, one of my classmates from school," Ryuu introduced, gesturing politely at Suna.

"Hi, nice to meet you!" Manami greeted, coughing a little but seeming more lively now that she wasn't alone.

Suna smiled and returned the acknowledgement.

"This isn't much... but please accept my books. I'm sorry that I came so unprepared," Suna apologized, opening his school bag and taking out two books that he had bought earlier today. He felt embarrassed for giving the young girl something so ordinary and plain.

"Oh, thank you, and it's not a problem, I _really_ like books," Manami assured, gratefully taking the two books from Suna's hands.

Suddenly, Manami stared at the two books, wide-eyed.

"Are these Nishimura Ryoko's latest books?" Manami asked, staring at the books in pure rapture.

"Yes, do you like her?" Suna inquired, looking at Manami with amused curiosity.

"Like her? I _love_ her! Her works are always so amazing!" the girl blurted out, hugging the books tight to her chest, "Thank you so much!"

"It's nothing, really," Suna said, relieved that Manami had actually liked his present.

"Anyways, you two can sit down if you'd like," the teenager pointed out, watching the two high school students walk towards the light green sofa chairs before they sat down.

Afterwards, Suna and Manami started to talk about their favorite books and authors. Ryuu would occasionally interject a joke here and there, which would make Manami have a fit of giggles, and Suna roll his eyes (but nevertheless with an amused smile). Somehow, the topic switched to childhood incidents. Since Suna and Manami didn't really have all that many interesting tales to tell, Ryuu eagerly recounted all of his crazy, adventurous experiences as a child. Suna found himself breaking down into laughter after Ryuu narrated his "escapade" of cutting open a window screen and jumping off the second story of his house because he thought there was a robber in the house (who was really his mother); Ryuu ended up running two miles to the police station, where the police sped in to his house in their cars to confront the "robber", only to find a dumbstruck, confused, innocent lady.

The two siblings stared at Suna, watching him double over in laughter. Both of them had never seen or heard someone with such a pleasant laugh. Suna tried to shove his laughter back down into his throat. He was successful for a few seconds, but then he burst into laughter again.

The evening continued like so, and before Suna knew it, it was already dark.

"Ah, sorry Manami, we should probably get going," Ryuu pardoned himself and Suna, checking the time on his hand watch; the glowing numbers displayed "7:51 pm".

"Aw... Ok..." Manami sighed, pouting and slumping her shoulders, "Come back when you're not too busy, today was fun!"

Ryuu and Suna waved before they walked out the door. Before Suna closed the door completely, he noticed that Manami was already reading one of her books, thoroughly engrossed.

The two teenagers walked back to the apartment complex together. Ryuu dished out his most absurd jokes for Suna, satisfied that he got the usually silent teenager to laugh more than once that day.

Finally, they reached their floor. There was a pleasant silence.

"I'll see you Monday and hey-try not to worry too much, OK?" Ryuu grinned, clapping his hand on Suna's shoulder.

"Sure," Suna replied, wondering why his heart was beating slightly faster than usual.

"Well, later Suna!" Ryuu called as he ran towards his apartment door, saluting cheekily.

The teen raised his hand in response, and before he knew it, Ryuu was gone. Suna was left alone in the dark hallway. He let his hand drop to his side.

Suna let his back rest against the cool, cement wall of the hallway as he stared at the gray ground.

What was this feeling that was making him giddy with happiness?

" _Am I actually falling for that idiot?_ " Suna asked himself, biting his lower lip and shaking slightly.

* * *

 **Review Replies**

Frostyfirea: Thank you, I'm glad that you like it! To be honest, the entire time I was watching the anime, I thought that it would be cool if Suna actually ended up with a guy. So... I thought to myself, "Hey, why don't I write a fanfiction about that?" X) Thus, this fanfiction was born.

Stevenbomb2015: Doumo arigatou gozaimasu! Your review brought a ridiculous smile to my face, it made my day! I had to reread it a few more times XD I also put Ryuu cross-dressing on my list (I managed to plan ahead eight chapters). The interesting thing is Aki (the character Ryuu looks like) has cross-dressed before. He looked really cute as a girl, so I can just imagine Ryuu in his maid outfit *tries to contain inner fangirl*. I love your ideas so much! XD

Also, the idea of Takeo reading BL just randomly popped into my head. Although Yamato seems really innocent, I think that she probably does spend some of her time... reading... erm... interesting things. I have to admit that I am guilty of reading stuff like that from time to time (despite how innocent my peers think I am)...

makoto-touchmebana:¡Muchas gracias! (I thought that it would be boring to say thank you over and over again, so I decided that it would be more interesting if I said "thank you" in a different language)

I kind of developed an unhealthy obsession for analyzing Suna's character when I was watching My Love Story! I think that it started after Suna started laughing. That was when I realized there was more to his character than just a cold, pretty boy. I hope that I continue to portray his character accurately!

 **A/N July 18, 2015**

OC(s) introduced: Ryuu Manami (meaning: affectionate beauty) and Nishimura Ryoko (meaing: western village, bright child)

OK, I told myself that I would finish this chapter yesterday, but then I realized that I should probably finish all of my Chem homework ahead of time... I still have to finish the lab report and the two other assignments, but I was super tired, so I just kind of gave up and continued writing up this chapter (which was a lot more appealing than doing calculations for what-energy-level-an-electron-moves-to at ten in the night).

It also took a while for me to do some researching on leukemia. I'm not a leukemia expert (and I'm certainly not a doctor!) so please don't expect everything to be completely accurate! I really feel for the kids who are undergoing leukemia, and I'm in awe because they manage to stay so optimistic and courageous.

Also, I must apologize for all the typos (as usual). I am extremely exhausted and I just want to sleep now (today's been a long day, even though it's only around noon over here) X) This chapter should be "typo-free" by the end of today (hopefully).

Have an awesome, stress-free day everyone!

-ShootingStar103


	5. Leave Me Alone

**Chapter 5. Leave Me Alone  
**

For a week, Suna tried to distance himself from Ryuu even more than usual.

He didn't talk to Ryuu unless it was absolutely necessary, and he walked behind Takeo and Ryuu like he did the first two days he met Ryuu. He told himself that he was just confused, and if he ignored his feelings for the obnoxious teen, they would go away. To Suna's dismay, he was sadly mistaken.

He found himself subconsciously glancing over in Ryuu's direction every now and then... and he started to notice all the little things about Ryuu. The way he restlessly shook his leg while seated during science and history (Ryuu's least favorite classes). The way he would run his fingers through his hair after he finished running his laps in P.E. The way he laughed full-heartedly, shaking shoulders and all, and his seraphic smile whenever he was with his friends.

The more Suna tried to ignore his growing interest in Ryuu, the more it developed and tortured him. Suna couldn't help himself.

He also noticed the small (but kind) actions that Ryuu did. How he comforted the girl whose dog had passed on, ran to the supermarket to buy lunch for Osamu (who had forgotten to bring his meal the third time this month), gave his spare clothes to one of the boys who slipped and fell into a large puddle of mud, climbed all the way to the top of the roof to get a soccer ball for the soccer team, and ended up coming late to class and fully soaked because he had dived into a pond to save a child's pet cat.

On the inside, Suna felt pathetic and a little jealous. He was only one of the many people that Ryuu helped. He was nothing special.

When the next Monday rolled by, Suna was looking out the window like he usually did when their elderly teacher was taking roll. For a couple of minutes, Suna had an unsettling feeling that someone was watching him. He looked to his right, and his heart skipped a beat when he saw that Ryuu was staring at him worriedly. Suna immediately looked away and tried to focus on the elderly man's feeble voice. Although Suna wasn't looking at Ryuu, his heart was pounding furiously in his chest.

The school day finished, and the students left the school chattering cheerfully or complaining about the latest homework assignments. Suna took his time as he walked, careful to stay as far behind of Takeo and Ryuu. That was a huge mistake. When Suna finally reached his apartment floor, there was Ryuu, waiting for him. Takeo was nowhere in sight, he had probably already went into his apartment.

"Yo, Suna," Ryuu greeted, grinning widely and waving at the quiet teen.

Suna just nodded in return. Other than that, he offered no other form of acknowledgment. Ryuu's smile faltered and he stopped waving all together. Suna was about to open his apartment's door, but suddenly, there was a tall wall of flesh blocking him.

"Please move," Suna deadpanned, looking at the ground and refusing to look up at Ryuu's face.

"No, not unless you tell me what's wrong," Ryuu replied firmly, crossing his arms and frowning slightly.

"Wrong? Everything's fine," Suna lied, "Now can you please move?" he asked, starting to become a little impatient.

"Listen, if you don't tell me what's wrong, there's no way I can help you," the other teen asserted, concern was written all over his face.

Suna stayed silent. The only person who had ever told him that was Takeo, who was his best friend. Why was Ryuu telling him this?

"You can tell me, I promise that I won't run away or make fun of you," Ryuu guaranteed, spreading his arms.

"Don't make promises that you can't keep," Suna said quietly, walking away from Ryuu and his apartment door.

"Wait! Suna, where are you going?" Ryuu asked, running after the teen.

"To the supermarket. I forgot to buy something."

 _bam_

Ryuu slammed both of his hands against the wall, trapping startled Suna between the wall and himself.

"Suna, you're my friend! Can't you see that I just want to help you?" Ryuu proclaimed exasperatedly, searching the other teen's face for any trace of submitting, "And it's not like I haven't noticed that you've been avoiding me like crazy and talking even less to others... including Takeo over the past week. Please, don't just shut us all out," the tall teen pleaded, furrowing his eyebrows, upset.

Suna was shaking slightly and gripping the strap of his black bag so tight that his knuckles were turning white. It was only then, Ryuu was aware that he was invading Suna's personal space. The teen seemed more than uncomfortable.

"Ah, sorry... I didn't mean to be so upfront and rude. Pardon me..." Ryuu murmured, letting his hands drop to his sides.

Then Ryuu noticed that Suna's face was slightly pink.

"Hey-are you alright?" Ryuu asked, "Do you have a fever? Your face is kind of red."

Suna's flinch was barely noticeable.

By sheer dumb luck, Takeo opened his apartment door, placing a potted plant outside and humming a popular song (sung by a female singer with an inhumanly high-pitched voice) extremely out of tune.

"Excuse me," Suna said, not looking up at Ryuu.

He made a dash for the open door and surprised Takeo.

"Oh! Sun-" Takeo was cut off by Suna.

"Sorry, no time to talk. Can I please come in?" Suna pleaded urgently, scaring Takeo with his unusually expressive face.

"Uh... su-sure. Go ahead," Takeo gestured at the door, allowing Suna to enter his apartment.

When Takeo looked up, he saw Ryuu staring after Suna, looking slightly hurt.

"Ryuu, do you want to come in too?" Takeo asked in his booming, low voice, standing up and blinking.

"No thanks, I..." Ryuu's voice faltered, "I think that I may have been too pushy when I was asking Suna what was bothering him. He must be pretty upset now, huh?" the teen finished, still looking at the spot where Suna had rushed into Takeo's apartment.

The giant looked at Ryuu from above in silence (in exception to the loud "hmm"), stroking his chin and frowning so hard that he looked like he was planning on murdering someone.

All of a sudden, Takeo placed his humongous hand on Ryuu's shoulder and stared at the other teen a _little_ too close.

"It's OK! I'll ask Suna!" the giant grunted, looking like he had been tasked with a serious responsibility (like he was going out to battle Godzilla).

Ryuu's face seemed to light up a bit, he even cracked a smile.

"Thanks Takeo. I'm going to buy Suna something, I upset him too much today," Ryuu explained before walking in the opposite direction.

"OK! See you Ryuu!" Takeo shouted, waving furiously like he was trying to shoo away some monstrous fly.

Ryuu saluted in return, grinning widely. When the teen disappeared from view, Takeo made his way into his apartment. Takeo found Suna sitting in the middle of his room, doing his homework on the (currently clean) round, wooden table. Takeo's room was no longer a garbage dump, it was surprisingly clean (probably because his mother had forced him to tidy his room).

"Suna! I'll go get some sweets!" Takeo bellowed, thumping his chest like he was a jungle man sounding a warning call.

Suna quietly nodded, and he didn't look up from his books. Takeo sprinted into the kitchen.

The sounds of pots clanging and plates clattering after falling to the ground came from the outside. Suna finally stopped reading his textbook and looked up.

 _"What in the world is that big oaf doing?"_ he wondered, sighing and setting down his mechanical pencil.

After a few seconds, Takeo burst into the room with three pots on his head, holding a plate with an enormous cake. Suna stared at Takeo, nonplussed. Eventually, Suna spoke.

"... Takeo, what are you doing?" the teen asked, debating whether he should break down laughing or continue staring at his friend.

"Takeo? Who's Takeo? I'm not Takeo! I'm Super Takeo!" the giant roared.

He tossed the cake onto the table (which surprisingly didn't fall off and splatter all over the floor) and flexed his muscles dramatically.

"...Super... Takeo..." Suna repeated, looking at Takeo like he was speaking a foreign language.

"Yes!"

Suna stared at Takeo for a few seconds before his poker face started to crack. What started out as a small chuckle turned into loud laughter.

"Su-per _haha_ Take-o," Suna doubled up with laughter and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"Yamato told me that dressing-up makes people happier. I thought that I could make you happier by dressing-up," Takeo explained, sounding somewhat embarrassed and sulky.

Suna's laughter gradually faded, and his face started to return to its normally placid expression. He stayed quiet for a while.

"Cheer me up?" Suna murmured with an unreadable look, "What makes you think I need cheering up?" a shadow fell over the teen's face as he looked away from his friend.

"You've been talking less than usual, and you're always so busy," Takeo reasoned, sitting down and placing his hands on his giant kneecaps.

"Oh, is that so?" Suna uttered, becoming deathly silent.

"Yes!" Takeo affirmed, nodding his head furiously, "Please, tell me what's happening. Is someone ill? Did you eat something bad? Do you like someo-" Takeo paused, goggling Suna when he noticed his friend had reacted to his last question. Suna had tensed up considerably.

"... Suna... likes someone?" Takeo said out loud in wonder, gaping at his best friend in shock.

"No I don't," Suna said a little too quickly, noticing that his voice had cracked a little.

"Who is it?!" Takeo demanded, grabbing Suna by the shoulders and staring straight into his friend's eyes.

Suna didn't answer, instead he averted his eyes, "Please let me go," he said softly.

"Saijou? Amami? Hisakawa? Fukui? Miyamoto?" Takeo listed, ignoring Suna's request, "Kita? Maki? Matsuoka?"

Takeo received no response from Suna, so he continued to recite the rest of the girls' last names in their class. When Takeo was half way through, Suna finally snapped.

"It's none of them," Suna said brusquely, causing Takeo to sit down and drop his hands from Suna's shoulders.

"Then who?" Takeo asked, scratching his head and looking thoroughly perplexed.

Both of the teens were so engaged in their conversation that they didn't hear someone talking to Takeo's mother or the sound of Takeo's bedroom door being opened.

"Ryuu, that's whom I like!" Suna admitted, choking on his words.

The sound of plastic crinkling slightly caused the two friends to look behind them. Ryuu had just opened the door and was staring at Suna wide-eyed. He was holding a plastic bookstore bag that was swinging slightly to the left and then the right (which was probably the source of the sound).

Suna felt his voice catch in his throat as he stared at Ryuu like a deer caught in the headlights. Everything went silent.

"I have to go..." Suna whispered, quickly packing his books in his bag and standing up.

"Wait, Suna," Ryuu protested, reaching his hand out to the other teen, who walked past him without a word.

There was the sound of footsteps and then the door being hastily closed.

* * *

 **Review Replies**

a-faux-pas: *claps hands together* Thank you! It makes me happy that you like Ryuu! I felt like the kind of person who would be best-suited for Suna would be someone who has a huge heart like Takeo, but a bit smarter (sorry Takeo!) so that he can understand the what Suna is undergoing.

Stevenbomb2015: To be honest, I don't think that I've ever been this "dedicated" to my fanfiction before. This is the first time I've been dishing out a chapter every few days X). I think that it's because I'm currently obsessed with this anime, and I'm super pumped because of all the encouragement you guys have given me, so... thank you so much!

Also, that's a really good question about Manami... I've never really thought about that. Maybe I'll think of someone "special" for her later.

And... more cross-dressing *adds that to the list of "Ryuu and Suna activities" while smiling blissfully*. Since Yamato convinced Takeo that "dressing-up" makes people happy, I'm pretty sure that later on she'll manage to convince Takeo that Suna"dressing-up" as a female character will make him happy. Maybe the three of them will go to an anime convention with Ryuu... I need to continue brainstorming XD This is totally unrelated, but I've never been to an anime convention before... it sounds really, really fun... although I probably won't be able to go since I'll probably be stuck studying at home (as usual *sigh*). I also spent a while thinking about how Suna and Ryuu would get lost in a forest (since Suna doesn't seem to be the kind of person who would get lost easily). I think that I may have too much fun writing that chapter later on...

Frostlesskiss: Suna's probably going to be more conflicted (for a bit) in the next chapter. I don't like torturing him too much, so Suna won't stay confused for too long!

 **A/N July 20, 2015**

Originally I was going to have Suna kiss Ryuu, but then I realized that the chances of Suna doing something as intimate as that were probably close to zero. Hopefully this scenario was more plausible?

Sorry for the cliffhanger (I'm not sure if the end of this chapter even counts as a cliffhanger, I suck at writing those).

Just as a heads-up, I probably won't be able to update this fanfiction until Thursday (which is about four days from now). I have an upcoming exam (which I'm totally not prepared for) and a lab reports that I have to do this week, so I'm pretty much swamped with work... I'm hoping that the time I spend studying won't go to waste...

I'll see if I can catch anymore typos, spelling, and grammatical errors later (sorry guys! Please bear with me, I try my best to proofread my work, but sometimes I need to take a break before my proofreading skills are "rejuvenated").

Anyways, thank you for reading! Until the next chapter,

-ShootingStar103


	6. Let Me Disappear

**Chapter 6. Let Me Disappear  
**

Over the past three years in middle school (and the time he spent in high school), Suna had heard some of his peers recounting their adventures of pretending to be sick in order to avoid going to school. Suna had never understood why someone would want to do something like that, but now he was starting to understand some of the reasons why someone would.

Sometimes it wasn't necessarily because of schoolwork or school itself; it was the people who went to school. There would be someone or a certain group of people that you wouldn't want to see.

Suna was tempted to stay in bed and feign a fever, but he managed to talk some sense into himself. He got up with more difficulty than it usually took him and automatically started to make his bed. When he made his way into the kitchen, Suna noticed that his mother was nowhere to be seen, and in her place was Ai and Oda, who were bickering as they were making breakfast.

"Oh! Suna, good morning," Oda greeted, turning around and being the first person to notice the quiet teenager.

"Good morning," Suna replied perfunctorily, seating himself on the cushioned chair noiselessly.

"Suna, did you sleep well?" asked Ai, stirring the vegetable broth and pressing the buttons on the stove to adjust the temperature.

"Yes," Suna answered dryly, trying to stop thinking about how to deal with Ryuu today and ignore his growing unease.

Ai didn't try to talking to Suna anymore, since she could tell that something was off about her brother. He retained a perturbed aura the entire breakfast. Suna was unusually silent, and he was eating slower than he usually did. He didn't appear to have much of an appetite this morning. The teen was quietly picking at his food. Oda noticed too.

Finally, Oda spoke up in his cheerful voice.

"Hey, Suna. It's alright, you don't have to finish all of your breakfast if you don't want to. I can take care of the rest," Oda offered, giving the teen a good-natured smile and reaching his hand out to take the teen's barely touched plate.

The teen paused for a few seconds before he politely placed his chopsticks on his plate.

"Thanks," Suna said, handing his white dish to the young man, "Excuse me," the teen said quietly, standing up and pushing in his chair.

Oda and Ai's eyes followed Suna as he walked across the room to the bathroom. There was the sound of the door being shut and then the faucet being turned on. The young adults stopped staring at the door and exchanged concerned looks. They remained silent for a few moments until Ai spoke, speaking in a hushed voice.

"Something's bothering him," Ai whispered worriedly, placing her chopsticks flat on the rim of her bowl.

"Hm..." Oda frowned, resting his elbows on the table and his cheek on his hand, "You know, I think that it's best that we give him some time to figure it out... but we should still keep an eye on him in case he's-"

"Depressed?!" interrupted Ai, raising her voice slightly and leaning forward towards Oda, "No way! Suna may be quiet, but he isn't the kind of person who would..." she faltered, recalling her brother's odd behavior this morning.

Ai's expression slowly changed from slight concern to distraught. Oda noticed this out of the corner of his eye, frowning slightly.

"Anyways, let's just remember to watch out for him, OK Ai?" Oda said in a low voice, sitting up and stretching with an exaggerated yawn. The young man's smile naturally reappeared on his face while Ai's upset expression was still etched on her face.

"Hey, Ai, would you worry about me if I acted strangely?" Oda asked cheekily, trying to lift his crush's spirits.

"You're always strange," Ai countered, rolling her eyes then glowering at Oda, "I still don't understand why I let you come with me to see my father. You're so annoying and nosy," the young woman sighed, gathering the utensils and dishes (which were all empty except for Suna's).

"Ah! Why are you so cruel Ai?!" Oda exclaimed, feigning a hurt face and clutching his chest like someone had shot him in the heart.

"Shut up," Ai replied, turning her back to her peer then heading towards the sink.

Oda's faux crestfallen expression disappeared in an instant and was replaced by a small, mischievous smile.

Both of the young adults turned around when they heard the bathroom door open. Suna reemerged and walked into his bedroom without a word.

After a few minutes, the teen came out, fully dressed in his immaculate school uniform. He immediately started heading towards the door.

"Suna, aren't you going to wait for Takeo and Ryuu?" Ai asked, watching her brother freeze in his steps.

"I'm going to school early today," Suna answered, swiftly opening the door and uttering a small goodbye before he closed it.

Ai stared at the door for a few seconds, wondering what in the world was going on in her brother's head. Oda's voice interrupted her train of thought.

"Friend troubles, eh? Poor guy. Hopefully he'll manage to figure everything out soon," Oda said thoughtfully, causing Ai to look in his direction.

"Yeah..." Ai agreed, silently enough for Oda not to hear her.

* * *

Suna mechanically made his way through the bustling metro station and walked all the way to school. It was only 8:00 am when he arrived, (the students usually came to school around 8:30 am) so there was barely anyone in the large building. Suna made his way through the empty, lifeless hallways until he finally reached his classroom. He set his black bag down by his side and pulled out his favorite book before he sat down.

The minutes ticked by, and the students slowly started to trickle into the school, brightening the place with their vibrant voices and occasional shouts and squeals.

Suna was oblivious to all of the sounds.

Suddenly, the school bell rang. The teen came back to his senses and blinked. He carefully placed his book in his bag and looked out the window.

The teacher's droning voice resounded throughout the room, signifying the start of the lecture. The entire time, Suna refused to look at anybody except for the teacher. Class was excruciatingly long for Suna, and he just wanted to go home and shut everyone outside.

Finally, the lunch bell rang. The students jumped out of their seats and scuffled around, cheerfully chattering and chowing down their meals.

Suna took out his book again, planning on spending the entire lunch undisturbed. Much to the teen's annoyance, he heard someone walking towards him.

"Suna," the teen didn't look in the direction of the person who uttered his name, already knowing whom it was.

"Yesterday I-" Ryuu continued, but he was interrupted by a girl's loud squeal as she was pushed towards the tall teen by her friends.

The two male students looked in the direction of the ruckus. The girl being pushed was Yoshida, who was the prettiest and smartest girl in the class. All of the students' attention were directed towards the girls and Ryuu.

"Go! You'll never get a chance to if you don't do it now!" hissed one of the Yoshida's friends, grasping the flustered girl's shoulder.

"Do it!" another girl exclaimed, jumping up and down while clapping her hands together.

"Guys! Stop!" the Yoshida whined, prying her friends' hands off her shoulders.

She turned around and blushed furiously when she saw Ryuu looking at her with a bemused expression.

"Is there something you wanted to say?" Ryuu asked kindly, looking down at her with his warm, amber eyes.

"I... uh..." Yoshida mumbled, looking over at her friends for encouragement.

The group of girls nodded furiously and motioned their hands as if to say "go on".

"I... I..." Yoshida stuttered, turning a bright red, "I... like you Ryuu-kun..." confessed the embarrassed girl, "Would you please go out with me?"

The room went silent, and all of the students looked at Ryuu expectantly.

Ryuu blinked, unsure of how to react in this situation. He was used to being confessed to by girls... but this was different. The raven-haired teen turned to his left and saw that Suna was looking at his desk with a slightly hurt and defeated expression. Although Suna was doing his best to hide his emotions behind his blank mask, he managed to fool everyone but Ryuu, who could see straight through it.

"Yoshida, you're a very nice girl," Ryuu began, causing the girls to gasp and lean forward expectantly, and Suna to cringe slightly in anticipation, "but... there's someone who I think would be really upset if I did," the teen finished, giving a sympathetic smile.

Suna forgot to avoid looking at Ryuu and stared at the other teen wide-eyed.

Yoshida looked disappointed (her friends were more so than her), but she didn't burst out into tears.

"Oh... I see! Sorry, I didn't know!" she apologized, "I hope that you are happy with whomever you're with," Yoshida wrung her hands together, embarrassed.

She bowed and hastily left the scene with her friends, who patted her on the back and comforted her.

Suna could hear his classmates whispering (some less discrete than others) about whom Ryuu liked or how Ryuu had just lost his chance to go out with the most popular girl in school. Suddenly, Ryuu spoke.

"Ah! Anyways, here are the books that I got you yesterday. I want to apologize for my rudeness earlier," Ryuu smiled sheepishly, handing Suna the plastic bag filled with books (which Suna didn't realize Ryuu was holding until now).

"... Arigato gozaimasu," Suna thanked the teen, quietly taking the bag from Ryuu.

"And... um, I was also wondering if I could talk to you about something after school," Ryuu mentioned, blushing a faint pink and rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Ok," Suna replied, feeling the knots in his stomach.

The boys looked away from each other and there was an embarrassing silence.

"Well... I'm going to check the lost and found to see if I can find my textbook... I'll see you later," Ryuu said, walking away and waving at Suna.

Suna lifted his hand in response. Once Ryuu was out of sight, he let it drop to his side.

A few moments later, Suna heard heavy footsteps coming towards him. The teen assumed Takeo was the owner of them. When Suna slowly looked to his right, his assumption was proven correct. The giant had an absurd grin on his face and was leaning _way_ too close to his friend.

"... Takeo, you're too close," Suna notified the giant, raising his hand instinctively to shield himself from the giant face.

Takeo ignored his friend's comment, and clapped his friend's shoulder (a _little_ too hard), humming with a ridiculously happy smile.

* * *

 **Review Replies**

Stevenbomb2015: I cracked up when I read the part "Ryuu had yaoi-hands" (I got a couple of weird stares from my classmates). Yeah, I used the typical "yaoi wall-block" scenario...

Also, congrats for starting Honto Yajuu! You've probably already reached the part where *cough* stuff happens *cough*. Whenever I read manga like that, it's usually super late at night when my parents are asleep... My mom would _freak out_ if she saw me reading Honto Yajuu X)

Ryuu just looks like Aki, but he has a different personality (I hope?). I attempted to make Ryuu a nice, athletic, and outgoing guy. I think that he's also taller than Aki... Ryuu's taller than Suna for sure.

Frostlesskiss: I felt like jumping up and down when I read your review; I could feel your excitement!

I'd like to apologize since Ryuu hasn't actually told Suna how he feels (in this chapter). In the next chapter, we'll find out!

satsukisweet: Thank you! I'll try to post the next chapter by tomorrow!

 **A/N July 23, 2015**

Sorry for the long wait guys, I am officially brain-dead and completely exhausted (hence, all the disgusting typos)... It's almost midnight over here and I just want to go to sleep. I wanted to post this chapter before Friday so that I wouldn't keep you guys waiting... I'm really sorry if this chapter not as good as the other ones; spending four consecutive days studying for a Chem exam has caused my writing skills and creativity to decrease significantly.

The next chapter will be out by tomorrow (hopefully) or maybe the day after tomorrow... I want the next chapter to be a lot better to make up for this sloppy, short one. Tomorrow I'll also spend time editing this chapter, since I feel like Suna and Ryuu were slightly out of character...

Thank you so much for reading,

-ShootingStar103


	7. Confessions

**Chapter 7. Confessions**

Once school ended, Suna, Ryuu, and Takeo walked back together to their apartment complex. The entire time, Takeo was looming behind Suna and Ryuu's backs, causing Suna to become increasingly uncomfortable and Ryuu to stare at the giant, taken aback. While humming ominously to himself, the intimidating teen's eyes flitted from Suna to Ryuu every couple of seconds, scrutinizing his friends' behavior.

When they finally reached their apartment complex, Takeo finally stopped staring intently at his friends. He straightened his back and nodded to himself with a grunt and a purposeful look in his eyes.

"Ryuu, Suna! I'll be going into my apartment now," Takeo informed loudly, giving the two teenagers a thumbs up and a beatific smile before he frolicked away (which he did surprisingly pretty well for a buff, bulky giant).

"Oh, Ok! See you Takeo!" Ryuu replied, giving Takeo a friendly wave.

"See you tomorrow," Suna uttered, nodding at his friend.

"Yeah!" Takeo grunted before he cheerfully went into his apartment and shut the door behind him.

Suna and Ryuu heard the door click and heavy footsteps. Then there was silence.

Ryuu shoved one of his hands deep into the pockets of his pants and subconsciously scratched the back of his neck (a habit Suna noticed that Ryuu did whenever he was nervous).

"You can come to my apartment to talk," Suna quietly addressed Ryuu, walking towards his apartment door.

"Sure," Ryuu followed Suna, "Sorry for causing so much trouble," Ryuu added.

"You really don't need to apologize," Suna said flatly, ringing the doorbell with an unreadable expression.

There was a small pause before the sound of soft footfall came to life. It didn't take long for the two teens to hear the doorknob turn and the door swing open.

"Welcome back, little brother," Ai greeted, looking at Suna before her eyes traveled up and she saw Ryuu, "Oh, hi Ryuu. Please, come in," the young woman offered, gesturing politely for the tall teen to enter.

She was a little surprised that Suna had brought Ryuu; her brother usually came home alone or with Takeo.

"Thank you," said Ryuu politely, smiling at Ai, "Ojama shimasu," Ryuu pardoned himself, stepping into the Sunakawa's apartment and taking off his shoes.

Once the tall teen finished putting on the guest slippers, he looked around Suna's house.

"My bedroom's this way," Suna informed the other teen, walking towards his room with the other teen trailing after him.

Once they were both inside the room, Suna closed the door behind them and then walked to his bed, sitting on it and placing his black bag by his side. Ryuu sat on the wooden floor cross-legged across from Suna. Suna remained quiet and stared at the ground, waiting for Ryuu to speak.

When Ryuu did, he didn't completely dive into the awkward topic.

"Your apartment is really nice, it has a really homey feel to it," Ryuu complimented with a slightly sad smile.

"My mom's home most of the time, so she makes sure that it's habitable," Suna replied, still not looking up from his hands.

"It seems like you also have a knack for clean things too, your room is amazingly clean," added Ryuu, looking at the spotless floor, made bed, clutter-free desk, and neatly aligned textbooks.

"It's a bother to have a messy room, I can't study," Suna replied, wondering how long Ryuu was planning on continuing his idle chatter.

"My room is a cluttered mess, I still haven't tried to clear it up," Ryuu continued, "I don't remember when my room's ever been clean. When I was six, one day I didn't want to go to my piano lessons, so I hid under one of the many piles of clothes in my room," Ryuu recounted, looking up thoughtfully at the plain white ceiling, "It took my mother forty minutes to find me," the teen added sheepishly.

Then it started. A small laugh. Suna found himself smiling, he couldn't help himself. He tried to pass it off as a small cough, so he covered his mouth with the back of his hand.

Ryuu noticed and blinked. Then the teen smiled, surprised (but glad) that he had managed to make Suna laugh so soon. He wanted to lighten up the mood so that Suna wasn't so nervous.

There was a pleasant silence. Then Ryuu started to speak in a slightly more serious tone.

"So... about yesterday..." Ryuu began, trailing off because he was wondering how he should talk to Suna about this.

Suna became deathly quiet, and (although barely noticeable) his hands were shaking slightly.

"Um... well, you see..." Ryuu struggled, still grappling with how to ask Suna.

"Ryuu, have you dated before?" Suna asked quietly, interrupting the other teenager.

"Yes," Ryuu answered, furrowing his eyebrows, "Why do you ask?"

"Were they all girls?"

Ryuu blinked and hesitated before saying, "Yes."

"Then why are you bothering with me," Suna said with a hint of bitterness, "You can obviously find a perfect girl, and it shouldn't be a problem with your good-looks and personality."

"You think I'm good-looking?" Ryuu asked cheekily, flattered by the unintentional compliment.

"That's not the point," Suna replied dryly, clasping his hands together so tight that his knuckles were starting to turn white.

There was another pause. This time it was less comfortable than the last one.

Ryuu let out a sigh and sat next to Suna on the bed.

"Look, you may think that, but just because I can get almost any girl I want, it doesn't mean that I'll find the right one," Ryuu said softly, looking at the teen sitting next to him.

"You just aren't looking hard enough," Suna replied flatly, still refusing to look at Ryuu.

"Why should I, when there's someone right in front of me that could be the one for me?" Ryuu asked, lying supine on Suna's soft bed with his arms behind his head.

"I'm not a good person," Suna countered, "And you barely know me."

"Suna, are you really that afraid?" Ryuu asked with a tinge of concern, turning his heads towards Suna and studying the other teen, "Is it because we're both boys?"

"That's not the main problem," Suna denied, "You can do so much better."

"Suna," Ryuu began, looking up at the ceiling, "I've had three girlfriends before, but none of my relationships worked out. My first girlfriend was was really nice to me, and things were going pretty well... until I found out that she was just dating me to get her ex-boyfriend jealous. When he decided that he wanted to take her back, she immediately dumped me," Ryuu disclosed, letting out a sigh, "My second girlfriend treated me like some kind of trophy and bragged about me constantly to her friends. She didn't actually like me, she just wanted to show off that she was able to get what most of the other girls weren't able to. In the end, I decided to ignore her, and we slowly drifted apart. My third girlfriend... Well, let's just say that when Manami was diagnosed with leukemia, she got extremely jealous of my sister since I was constantly worried about Manami," Ryuu finished lamely, closing his eyes with a troubled expression.

"You either have terrible luck or you're stupidly bad at telling who's a good or bad person," Suna told Ryuu, frowning slightly.

"Maybe both," Ryuu joked, opening his eyes and smiling sheepishly at Suna, "But," continued the teenager, "There's one thing that all three of my girlfriends had in common," Ryuu paused, sitting up and leaning a little closer to Suna, "They were all never able to make Manami truly happy."

Suna finally looked over at Ryuu, feeling the butterflies in his stomach when they both made eye contact.

"I may not be very good at telling whether someone is truly a good person or not, but I know Manami can. She has a pure heart, so she can see past all the fake smiles and personalities. When you visited her at the hospital, you made her more happy than I've ever seen her over the past year. So, Suna," Ryuu paused, looking at the other teen with sheer sincerity, "If you aren't totally against it, I wouldn't mind going out with you."

Suna's heart may as well have stopped beating in his chest right then. He parted his lips slightly, and he tried to say something, but nothing came out. Finally, he managed to get his vocal cords to work.

"I guess... I... wouldn't mind dating you either..." Suna said quietly, breaking eye contact and looking away to the side while blushing a light pink.

Ryuu broke into a happy grin and hugged Suna, startling him. The tall teen noticed how Suna stiffened and quickly pulled away.

"Sorry! I forgot that you didn't like being touched by other people," Ryuu apologized, waving his hands frantically, flustered.

"It's OK..." Suna replied quietly, relaxing his shoulders.

Ryuu got up from Suna's bed and slung his bag over his shoulder.

"Hey, I know this is a little sudden, but could we exchange numbers?" the tall teen asked, quickly taking out his phone from his bag.

Suna nodded in response and took his phone out of the side pocket of his backpack. The two quickly exchanged their contact information.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Suna," said Ryuu, walking towards the door.

"Yeah, see you," Suna followed Ryuu out of his room to politely guide the other teen outside.

Once Ryuu was out the door, he gave one final cheerful wave and a huge grin before he closed the door behind him.

Suna walked back to his room and started to take his books out to study. Before he started reading through his history textbook, he looked out his window.

Suna honestly wasn't sure whether he had fully processed that he was "going out" with Ryuu now. Everything... seemed so surreal. Suna wasn't going to lie to himself. He was scared. He was scared of letting another person into his life. Suna knew that there were many great things that could happen when he let someone get closer to him... but there also could be great consequences. That was why he only let a selected few people into his life. People he knew he could trust. Suna knew that he could trust Ryuu, but he was afraid that once he learned to truly care for the other teen, Ryuu would disappear. Maybe Ryuu would find someone with better looks, intellect, and personality. Maybe Ryuu would lose interest in Suna.

Suna was scared.

Nevertheless, he let out a small sigh and opened his textbook.

* * *

 **Review Reply:**

Stevenbomb2015: I never really thought about how much pain Aki would be in... I guess his body somehow "adapts" to it? The human body is amazing. I'm not sure how Aki manages to deal with that all the time (I'm trying my best not to crack up right now). I wonder how their next door neighbors handle listening to Aki and Ueda's... ahem, activities.

I'll also try to put in a scene with "starstruck Suna". I need to think about what Ryuu does to make Suna say that... Maybe Ryuu can do something dramatically heroic?

Now about the who's on "the top", and who's on "the bottom"... I've always pictured Ryuu to be the "more masculine" man of the relationship, but Suna "topping" (I feel really awkward writing this XD) isn't out of the question. (Ryuu's not offended, in fact, he likes that idea... maybe _too_ much for his own good...). I also ended up giggling when I pictured your scene in my head. Excuse me, my yaoi fangirl is reemerging, but that would be really hot. Gah, I said it. Ignore me, haha (excuse me, I think that I'm to read some yaoi after this...). If I continue this fanfiction to the point where Ryuu and Suna are grown up, I might *cough* write some more intense *cough* you-know-what. And probably feel really perverted afterwards. Even though I'm secretly really perverted anyways...

 **A/N July 25, 2015:**

OK, I finally managed to finish this chapter! I hope that it wasn't too boring for you guys. What happened in this chapter slightly diverged from the path I was originally planning on taking... so I'm a little nervous about what I should do for the next chapter... Since I don't have any experience dating, I had to do some research on "what couples usually do on their first date", and I still haven't decided what Suna and Ryuu should do... There-are-too-many-choices. I seriously need help with this...

Oh yeah, high school's going to start in three weeks for me... And since I'm going to be a Junior this year, I heard that my life's going to be a living Hello Kitty (sorry, I'd prefer not to use the "h-word") since I have to worry about _not only_ homework, but college applications and the... ACT... (people just _love_ torturing us teenagers, don't they?)

So just as a heads up, after about three weeks, I probably won't be able to update as often. However, for now, I'll try to write as often as I can (when I'm not dealing with Chem).

Until next time!

-ShootingStar103


	8. School Life

**Chapter 8. School Life**

"So, can anyone tell me how to solve this problem?" asked the math teacher (who was a young woman in her early twenties) in a forced, upbeat voice. She was making a valiant effort to keep the whole class awake. Unfortunately for her, it was a nearly impossible task to keep a group of fifteen to sixteen-year-old high school students awake on a humid Friday afternoon.

The poor woman was answered with a couple of stifled yawns and Takeo snoring blissfully in the back of the classroom. Being the patient, good-natured woman she was, the math teacher stood in front of the classroom of students, who were on the verge of dozing off in the middle of the lecture (aside from Suna, who was busy taking notes and attentively listening to the teacher (as usual), and Takeo, who had already fallen under the summertime sleep spell). The young woman scanned the room with her eyes until she finally settled her gaze on Suna.

"Ah, Suna! Could you please come up to the chalkboard to show everybody how you solved this problem?" the math teacher asked cheerfully, giving Suna a hopeful (if not slightly desperate) look.

Suna stood up from his desk and steadily walked towards the chalkboard. As he did, the girls seemed to perk up as he walked by, but the boys paid little or no attention (except for Ryuu, who was looking at Suna curiously).

Suna carefully took the white chalk stick resting on the chalk ledge of the green chalkboard, then he started to write in his perfect, neat handwriting. After he finished writing out the entire equation and drawing the diagram, he turned around to face the class.

"I knew that J, K, L, and M were crossing points of the tangents at A, B, C, and D," Suna paused, taking the time to point out the points on the chalkboard, "From there, I could tell that line JK was tangent to X..." the teen continued, indifferent to the girls mooning over him and the boys trying their best to force their eyes open.

Suna explained his answer as clearly and coherently as he could before he walked back to his desk.

"Thank you very much, Suna! Well, class, that's all for today. Have a nice lunch," the teacher said, smiling and gathering her textbooks before she went out the door.

The classroom slowly came back to life as the students sluggishly got out of their desks. Takeo and Osamu blinked sleepily, then stretched their arms up high, letting out loud yawns (causing most of the students near them to either do the same or have the urge to yawn). The students started to move to their normal groups.

The girls flocked around each other and started to chatter and giggle quietly in their circles, and the boys began their rowdy discussions (which ranged from video games to cute kittens).

Suna sat in his usual seat by the window (away from the crowd), taking out his burgundy bento box then opening it.

"Hey, Suna!" called a loud, cheerful voice from the other side of the room.

Suna silently looked up at Ryuu, who was waving and grinning at him while sitting on top of a desk.

"Do you want to come over to eat with us?" Ryuu offered for the third time this week.

Suna had politely declined the first two times Ryuu asked, but today he finally accepted.

"Sure...," Suna said nonchalantly, shrugging then picking up his bento box before he walked towards the group of boys crowded in the center of the room.

"Here, you can sit next me," suggested Ryuu, patting the desk next to his.

Suna sat down quietly and started to eat his lunch, looking down and only half-listening to the boys' conversation. Suddenly, Osamu dragged Suna into their "serious discussion" of hair products.

"Oi, Suna!" hollered Osamu from across the table (who was the only boy who had the guts to talk to the "cold, pretty boy"), causing Suna to look up at him.

"I've always wondered what you do to your hair, it always looks so perfect," declared Osamu, slamming his hands on his desk and leaning towards Suna.

"I just wash and condition like everyone else does," Suna explained tonelessly, going back to eating his lunch.

"But what kind of conditioner do you use?" asked Osamu, causing all the boys to stop talking and listen intently, turning all their heads towards Suna.

After Suna answered, all of the boys goggled the teen.

"Come to think of it, Suna does use Ai's conditioner," Takeo said thoughtfully, thinking aloud to himself while stroking his chin.

"Wow! I never would have guessed that a popular female brand of conditioner would also work well!" exclaimed Osamu, "Cool!" he yelled, pumping his fist into the air.

Suna found himself fighting back a laugh while he watched the rest of the boys babbling to each other in excitement about their newfound "girl magnet" secret.

It didn't take long for Suna to slowly relax and even enjoy himself a little with the rest of the guys. He didn't notice that occasionally, Ryuu would look in his direction with an affectionate smile (glad that Suna was happy).

Halfway through lunch, the class president walked to the front of the room and clapped her hands together in attempt to get her peers' attention. The noisy chatter of the students quieted, although someone could barely tell the difference. She rapped her fist against the chalkboard, but she still failed to receive any acknowledgement. Finally, the class president sighed in exasperation and placed two fingers in her mouth; a shrill, ear-splitting whistle resounded throughout the classroom, causing everyone to flinch (except for Suna, who had already noticed and covered his ears).

"That's better," sighed the class president, placing her hands on her hips.

She looked around the classroom, satisfied that she finally had her peers' undivided attention.

"Good afternoon everybody," greeted the class president, waving at her classmates (who were currently listening to her attentively), "I wanted to remind all of you that the school festival is coming up in two weeks! We have a lot of preparations to make, so I'd advise everyone to use our remaining lunchtime to discuss what we should do! Ok?" she suggested enthusiastically before thanking her classmates for listening then walking away from the front of the room.

The majority of the students looked at each other for a couple of seconds before breaking the silence by conversing noisily. Eventually, the students figured out what they wanted to do. The adolescents who were in clubs huddled in their groups, having serious discussions about what they should do to show off all they've done over the year. The students who weren't in clubs were either in the "cafe" or "shop" group. Ryuu and Takeo had immediately went over to the "cafe group" and seemed to be extremely excited for the cafe's theme. Suna, on the other hand, steered clear of all of the commotion and took out one of the books Ryuu had given him. It was surprisingly good (in fact, one of the best books Suna had read in a while). It didn't take long for Suna to get sucked into the novel. The voices of his classmates gradually drowned out.

Suddenly, Suna was snapped out of his trance by an orotund voice.

"Hi, you're Sunakawa, right?" asked the loud, bright voice.

Suna looked up, slightly annoyed that someone had interrupted his precious reading time. Standing in front of him was Maki, the president of the drama club. She had her hands clasped behind her back and was rocking back and forth on her toes and heels with a friendly smile on her face. Maki was one of the few girls who had never been attracted to Suna. She could be rather loud and melodramatic at times.

"Yes..." Suna answered, placing his bookmark in his book and closing it.

"Would you mind playing the role of the prince in our play?" Maki asked in a saccharine voice, clasping her hands in front of her chest, "Matsuda, our lead actor, was going the take that role, but he's _really, really_ sick, so he won't be able to have enough time to learn all the lines," explained Maki, looking at Suna hopefully.

"Sorry, I'm not very good at acting. I don't think that I'd make a very interesting character anyways," Suna said dryly, sliding his hand into the pocket of his pants and walking past Maki.

"Wait! Please!" Maki cried, running in front of Suna and spreading her arms, preventing the teenager from walking away.

Suna stared at the distraught girl blocking him with slight shock and bemusement. A serious voice caused the two teenagers to look to the right.

"Hey, is everything alright?" Ryuu asked, looking at the two with a small frown creasing his forehead.

"Ryuu, can you please ask Suna to play the role of the prince for the drama club?" pleaded Maki, not answering the tall teen's question.

Ryuu blinked in surprise and looked over at Suna, who was looking to the side, appearing disinterested.

"Suna doesn't seem like he wants to do it, so I'm not going to force him. Sorry," Ryuu replied, giving Maki a sympathetic smile.

Maki turned to Suna again, and beseeched him, "You're the only who can fit this role and has the time! Everyone else I know who is perfect for the role are too busy, please, I'm _begging_ you! Please, Sunakawa-kun!" the girl bowed, with tears running down her face.

Suna stared at the girl, startled. He felt a little guilty for making her cry, and he started to consider whether it would really hurt to help out the drama club for once.

"I'll do it," Suna said quietly, looking at Maki.

"Huh?" uttered Maki and Ryuu simultaneously, goggling Suna.

"I'll do it," repeated Suna firmly, looking Maki straight in the eye.

It took Maki a few seconds to register what Suna had said before she furiously wiped away her tears and broke into a huge grin.

"Thank you so much!" Maki exclaimed joyfully, clapping her hands together, "Let's see... we meet every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday after school for about two hours..." the girl recited the schedule enthusiastically, informing Suna about all the details and the dress rehearsal (which was about a week from now).

After Maki was finished filling Suna in on the drama club, she took off with a giant grin. Ryuu turned to Suna with an amused look.

"Are you really sure that you're OK with this?" Ryuu asked, resting his back and his elbows on the edge of a desk while crossing his legs.

"Yes, she looked upset, so I felt bad," Suna shrugged nonchalantly, "Besides, it would be a waste for all of their club's efforts to be ruined just because one person couldn't play the main role," reasoned Suna, reopening his book.

"How are the preparations for the cafe?" asked Suna offhandedly, looking at Ryuu with his eyebrows raised.

"Great, we have the best theme ever!" Ryuu informed enthusiastically.

"What's the theme?" inquired Suna, looking at Ryuu with slight curiosity.

"It's a secret," Ryuu replied, laughing then winking at Suna mischievously.

Suna almost rolled his eyes in response. He wondered what on Earth the cafe's "secret theme" could be.

* * *

 **Review Replies:**

Stevebomb2015: I usually read Honto Yajuu on "mangahere" on my iPod. I'm honestly not sure how safe it is to read it on my computer, and I prefer not to because it's easier for my parents to see what I'm reading *cough* which may not necessarily be a good thing. Oh my gosh, that reminds of the time when I was first getting into yaoi; I was watching Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi on my computer, and my mom walked in. I paused the video just in case anything came up. That-was-the- _worst_ -idea-ever. I ended up pausing it right when Kisa and Yukina were kissing... So when my mom was talking to me, I purposely tried to block my computer screen, which was a stupid idea because that just made her curious and peer over my shoulder. She asked me what I was watching, and I pointed to Kisa and said, "Uh... she's a girl..." in a totally convincing way (I'm totally not being sarcastic). She gave me a weird look, then told me that she knew what I was doing. That was not awkward at all. Ah, sorry for the long and unrelated side-story. Anyways, Hidaka and Koyama are so cute!

Chapter Ten will be about Suna and Ryuu's first date ;) I included the boat ride in their schedule (Chapter Nine will be about the school festival *hint* cross-dressing *hint*). Suna and Ryuu will eventually go on a "double date" with Takeo and Yamoto, but I guess that in a way, it's more of a "group date" (I haven't completely planned out what it's going to be like).

Suna will slowly start to open up to Ryuu. He's definitely going to take a while, but don't worry! I'll try to coax him into being more "cuddly" (but that will probably be in the later chapters...).

Also, thanks for the advice senpai! I'll definitely work hard in school and try not to stress out too much!

Frostlesskiss: I added the "handsome boy" *cough* girl *cough* scenario into the later chapters! I can already imagine Ryuu being overwhelmed by Suna's cuteness (that's one more scene I'm going to keep on replaying in my head over and over again before I go to sleep XD). Is it weird that I always watch short yaoi videos before I fall asleep? Maybe it's just me being a creep.

I'll try to see if "pervy Ryuu" can fit into the fanfiction. I'll need to plan ahead for that one, but it may or may not work depending on the course that Suna and Ryuu's relationship takes. It would be pretty cute though :P

I'll update as soon as I can, and thank you for the ideas!

a-faux-pas: Wow, thank you! I think that I already mentioned this before, but this is actually the first time I've written a fanfiction with an OC who plays a huge role. It makes me more than happy to know that you ship them hard :)

WatersEvidence: Thank you, I'll keep on trying to update as soon as I can, and hopefully this fanfiction will continue to be interesting!

 **A/N July 28, 2015**

OC introduced: Maki (meaning: black pine)

I actually had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I did some research on Japanese school festivals (although I highly doubt that everything I wrote about the festivals was accurate) and Japanese high school math problems.

Maki was based on one of my classmates. She's super nice, but at times she can be a bit overbearing and melodramatic. In a way, she's kind of like the older sister I've never had XD.

Until the next chapter,

-ShootingStar103


	9. The Prince and the Peasant

**Chapter 9. The Prince and the Peasant**

Brief A/N: There will be cross-dressing in this chapter (just as a heads-up for those who would prefer not to read anything related to that).

* * *

It was the day of the dress rehearsal, and Suna felt odd wearing a midnight blue medieval tunic, golden belt secured tightly around his waist (with a sword), black tights, knee-high leather boots, and white gloves. The shiny crown resting atop his head didn't help all that much either. He casually pulled his gloves (they were a little too small for his hands) before walking with the rest of the drama kids down the empty hall. Once all of the drama kids entered the originally empty classroom fully dressed and filled the room with their loud voices and footsteps, Maki walked to the center of the room and called for order while waving her arms above her head.

"OK guys! Let's get rolling!" Maki ordered, quieting the noisy group of adolescents and clapping her hands together.

Although it was rather uncomfortable moving around in a long-sleeved, fancy tunic (which was rather scratchy on the inside, despite how silky its outsides were), Suna managed to make it through. The rehearsal went by quite smoothly. None of the students forgot their lines (nor did anyone trip then fall, causing a drastic "domino effect" resulting in a heap of twitching, groaning students... like one of the members did last time).

It was only until the end, Suna did something that caused Maki to groan in exasperation.

"I won't do it," Suna deadpanned, giving away no emotion on his poker face.

They had reached the part where the peasant and the prince were supposed to kiss before they went their separate ways. The "peasant", Akemi, who was holding hands with Suna, looked disappointed and offended, while the rest of the drama kids could be heard sighing and slapping their palms onto their foreheads.

"Suna! The kiss between the prince and the princess is supposed to be the highlight of the show! The K-I-S-S!" Maki exclaimed, enunciating the letters loudly to emphasize her point and jumping off the desk she was sitting on.

There was a murmur of assent throughout the classroom from all of the drama club members. Despite this, Suna still refused.

"I'm not kissing anybody," Suna said adamantly, turning away from everyone else.

The Akemi huffed, whirling around and swishing her rose-red dress.

"Maki, Suna's obviously not going to change his mind, can't we just cut out the kissing?" she asked impatiently, appearing irritated and fed up.

Maki let out a huge sigh and crossed her arms while tapping her foot. After a few moments of silence, Maki finally spoke up.

"We'll take out the kissing scene," acquiesced Maki, looking rather weary and defeated while running her hand through her hair.

"But," Maki interjected sharply, "I want you guys to hug instead," she ordered in an assertive voice, pointing at the prince and peasant with a serious face.

Suna was about to protest, but he immediately closed his mouth once Maki shot him a deadly look. And that was that.

* * *

A week passed as quickly as the boar Takeo hurled into the air when it tried to attack Yamoto and him. Before the teenagers knew it, it was the day of the festival.

Ryuu and Takeo had left early to "make preparations" for the cafe, so Suna walked to school by himself, carrying a soft, yellow bag that contained his costume. He skilfully maneuvered his way through the crowd of excited students to reach the restroom. When he finally did, Suna swiftly closed the door behind him, shutting out all of the hubbub.

Walking into the cleanest bathroom stall possible, Suna locked it and hung his bag on the hook before quickly changing into his costume then walking out. When he reopened the door, a flood of exuberant voices and laughter hit Suna. Quietly closing the door behind him, Suna carried his small bag with him as he made his way to the classroom where the drama club had agreed to meet.

Wherever Suna went, he received more than enough whispers, dreamy stares, and high-pitched giggles from most of the girls in the vicinity.

"Wow, Suna sure looks amazing dressed as a prince!" one of the girls nearby whispered fervently.

"I wish that I could be swept off my feet by Suna... just like a princess," confessed another in a voice that made her sound like she was admitting something extremely scandalous. The air was filled with embarrassed giggles.

Suna ignored them like he normally did and stared straight ahead. It felt like a while, but he finally arrived at the classroom's door. Suna reached for the brass doorknob, twisted it, and walked into the classroom.

Maki's penetrating voice greeted Suna the moment he turned around.

"Good morning Suna, _haveyouseenAkemi_?" she asked urgently in one breath, clasping her hands tightly together and staring at Suna hopefully, while standing on her toes.

Suna's normally blank face served no comfort for the nervous drama club president.

"Sorry, I haven't seen her," Suna replied, furrowing his eyebrows slightly and watching Maki's expression change from somewhat hopeful to crestfallen.

"Have you tried calling her?" inquired Suna.

"Yes, I called and texted her, but she hasn't answ-OH!" Maki gasped, quickly pulling out her buzzing phone from the pocket of her blue skirt.

She glanced at the bright screen of her smartphone, and an optimistic smile lit up her face.

"Looks like Akemi texted me back! Let me check what she said," Maki cheered, excitedly waving her phone in the air before swiping the screen and unlocking her phone with a click.

Suna quietly observed Maki as she scanned the message Akemi sent her with her eyes. A shadow cast over her face as she quickly turned off her phone and shoved it back into her pocket; Maki started running out the door.

"Where are you going?" asked Suna, turning around to face the drama club president.

"To find a replacement for Akemi, she's caught a bad cold from her brother and cannot make it today," Maki explained in a rushed voice, before disappearing from Suna's view behind the door and muttering darkly about something to do with the drama club's curse.

Suna stared at the door for a couple more seconds before he found an empty desk to sit in and placed his bag next to him. He stared at the plain white wall, bored and regretful that he didn't bring his book with him. Suna thought that it was going to be a busy day (since they were supposed to rehearse again before their actual performance), so he decided it would be the best to carry less unnecessary items. However, since Akemi was gone, everyone was left dawdling around or idly chatting with other club members (or in Suna's case, quietly staring at the uneventful, motionless wall).

He rested his hand on his cheek and decided that he would focus his attention on the simple black and white clock. He watched the long hand slowly inch its way to the next little mark, signifying another minute had passed.

 _one minute._

 _eleven minutes._

 _thirty-six minutes._

Suna let out a small sigh and got out of his chair, tired of being so unproductive. Suddenly, the drama club members heard two people running down the hallway. The classroom door burst open and two girls came in (one stumbling through and the other skidding to an unusually graceful stop). Everyone went quiet, turning their heads towards the two girls inquisitively.

"Guys! _huff_ I _huff_ found a replacement _huff_ ," gasped Maki in between her breaths, grasping her kneecaps and appearing rather worn out and sweaty.

One the other hand, the replacement didn't look tired at all. She was tall (slightly taller than Suna) and had long, flowing, raven hair that cascaded down her back. Suna guessed that she was working in the cafe, since she was wearing a maid costume.

"Are you OK?" the replacement asked quietly, bending down and placing her hand gently on Maki's back.

"Yeah... _huff_ I'm fine _huff_ just give me a moment..." panted Maki, waving her right hand tiredly, walking over to one of the desks, and slumping into one of the chairs while fanning her face with her hand.

"Daisuke... please give the replacement... the princess' part," Maki sighed, slouching and resting her head in her arms.

The boy nodded furiously and immediately got the script, handing it to the girl.

"Thank you," the girl smiled, causing Daisuke to blush furiously. He just nodded awkwardly and ran off.

The girl's back was facing Suna the entire time, but something about the girl irked Suna... he felt like he had met her before.

Then she turned around, looking Suna straight in the eyes. Suna knew those eyes. Those large, warm, amber eyes.

"Ryuu..." Suna uttered, staring wide-eyed at the tall teen.

"Oh, hey Suna," Ryuu greeted in his masculine voice that did not match his appearance, casually brushing his puffy, black dress.

Ryuu was wearing a fluffy, short-sleeved maid's dress with a frilly, white apron (which gave the illusion of him having a chest). Suna felt his cheeks becoming hot, and he covered his mouth and looked away, unsure of how to react. He had never noticed that despite how "manly" Ryuu could be, his overall appearance was somewhat feminine (which allowed Ryuu to easily pass off as a pretty, tall girl). Although Ryuu was very athletic, he wasn't stunningly muscular like Takeo; he was toned but lean.

"Is everything alright, Suna?" asked Ryuu in a soft falsetto, making his outfit even more convincing.

"Wh-what is that?" Suna choked, refusing to look at Ryuu directly in the eye.

"The theme for the cafe was cross-dressing!" Ryuu informed enthusiastically, winking mischievously at Suna.

"Oh..." Suna murmured, "I see..."

Before the two could continue their conversation, Maki's bright voice resounded throughout the classroom (she had recovered surprisingly fast and was as lively as ever).

"OK, since we only have thirty minutes, we're running short on time. We won't be able to finish the entire rehearsal, but we'll just have to run through as much as we can. Got it guys?" Maki summarized quickly, earning purposeful nods and enthusiastic hoots from the majority of the drama kids.

Maki smiled widely with her hands on her hips.

The high school students rushed to the front of the room (some of the wilder ones hurdled or vaulted over the desks). They started the rehearsal in no time.

Some of the students were extremely nervous, nevertheless, nobody made any atrocious, obvious gaffes. As Maki predicted, they didn't manage to finish the rehearsal on time, but they ran through all of the important scenes. The one of the parts they didn't manage to rehearse was the end with the prince and the peasant, but that wasn't too big of a deal.

"Great job everyone! Just remember to breath," reminded Maki, taking in an exaggerated breath (all of the nervous students to copied her), "And have fun!" finished Maki, grinning and pumping her fist into the air.

"Yoshi! Let's go to the theater guys!" cheered Maki as her last words of encouragement to her peers, inspiring the drama club members and making them whoop and high five their neighbors.

Maki lead the group of excitedly chattering teenagers through the crowd, which quickly parted for the drama club. They made it to the theater in no time. Before Maki opened the door leading backstage, she raised her finger to her lips sternly and hushed the antsy adolescents. Maki winced a bit when the door squeaked as it opened. She held it open for the group and ushered them inside. The teenagers cautiously tiptoed around in the dark and whispered in low voices, careful not to make too much noise. The stagecraft members set up the stage as quietly as they could (although it was hard to ignore the creaking stage floor and the students rolling the heavy props across the platform).

Maki inconspicuously peeked from behind the dark red curtain of the stage. Excitedly, she turned around to face her peers.

"Guys, it's a full house!" whispered Maki, thrilled that so many people were interested in the play.

Some of the students looked just as excited as Maki, but others gulped nervously.

Maki gave a thumbs up and grabbed the microphone.

"Ok, I'm going out there to announce that the play's starting! It's our time to shine!" encouraged Maki, smiling at her peers before she disappeared behind the curtain.

Suna made his way through the dark to the center of the room. He could hear Maki chattering away on the microphone. After a few more minutes, she stopped talking and Suna heard her walking off the stage. There was a loud round of applause, then a hushed silence.

Suna was left alone in the dark. The curtains drew open, making no difference in the lighting because the entire theater was just as dark as the stage. Suddenly, the spotlight turned on, shining directly on Suna. His crown glistened a magnificent gold and his perfect physiognomy became more apparent, now that he was the center of the audience's attention.

Some of the audience members breathed out, entranced by his attractiveness.

Maki's voice resounded throughout the theater, amplified by the loudspeakers.

"Once upon a time, there was a bored, lonely prince. He was more intelligent and handsome than anybody in the kingdom. He was envied and admired by all, but he didn't understand why. Deep down inside, the prince yearned for something that everyone else had. Friends. So, the prince set out on an adventure to seek what he truly wished for..."

Suna waited for the cue once Maki finished talking.

"Oh, how I wish that I had a friend," Suna cried, spreading his arms with an anguished expression on his face.

Suna was surprisingly good at acting. It was the only time he chose to let his emotions take over. As the play progressed, Suna slowly turned from a normal high school student into a lost, lonesome prince.

The prince ventured through the dark forest the villagers feared of, which was said to be the home of a fearsome dragon. Intending to kill the dragon, the prince snuck into the dragon's cave in the middle of the night, only to find that the dragon was in fact a friendly, benevolent creature. The two quickly became friends and traveled all over the world together. They went on perilous quests to save their kingdom.

Shockingly, the dragon fell in love with one of the princess whom they rescued. The princess in turn fell madly in love with the dragon. The prince was glad that his friend had finally found love and went through a lot of trouble to ensure his friend's happiness. Then one day, the dragon and his princess decided that the three of them should set out on a quest in search of the prince's love. The prince was strongly against the idea, despite his friends' vehement protests. The prince's life continued on, and he had more than he could wish for. Two true friends.

However, one day misfortune struck. The prince was robbed and kidnapped by a group of bandits (unbeknownst to his friends). He was locked away in a deserted prison, left to starve to death. One day, a peasant, who happened to be riding by on her horse, heard the prince's hoarse, desperate cries for help. She broke her way into the prison and rescued the dying prince. For months, she tended to the prince, unaware that he was of royal blood.

The two slowly learned to love each other dearly. One day, the prince's friends, the dragon and the princess, found the prince and planned on taking him back.

The prince quickly rushed back to the peasant's cottage and told her. He confessed that he was actually the missing prince, and asked if the peasant would come to his palace and become his queen.

"Please, Rhosen, come with me," pleaded Suna, taking Ryuu's hands in his own and staring desperately into Ryuu's eyes.

"Samuel, you know that I cannot leave. My village couldn't do without a healer... As much as I'd love to come, I know that I..." Ryuu trailed off, looking at the audience with a despaired expression.

"... I understand," Suna sighed in a resigned voice, looking down at Ryuu's hands.

"But know that I will always love you, Samuel. Always," Ryuu breathed, squeezing Suna's hands gently.

"I love you too, Rhosen," confessed Suna sadly.

Suna was about to hug Ryuu, but instead he felt Ryuu's soft, warm lips on his own. Suna's eyes widened and he tensed up. Ryuu didn't seem to notice, he was too busy savoring the moment and the pleasant scent of Suna's hair (he did smell like a girl).

Behind the two, the drama club kids gawked at Ryuu in horror, and Maki slapped her hands over her mouth.

"Shoot, shoot, shoot! I forgot to tell Ryuu that they were supposed to _hug_!" she squeaked, frantically motioning for the curtains to close.

Once the curtains were closed, all of the drama kids started to freak out and run in circles, unaware that the audience had erupted into a deafening applause.

Finally, Ryuu broke the kiss, wishing that it could have last longer. Suna looked up at Ryuu, a little dazed. This was not what he expected his first kiss to be like.

* * *

 **Review Replies:**

Stevenbomb2015: Maki is awesome, she's one of my favorite OCs to write (it's even cooler that you can relate to her).

I feel super motivated to write more, knowing that you check every day (it makes me super happy). And what you said about the Sekai-ichi is so true, Takano's always on the prowl to jump on Ritsu... I remember showing some of my friends Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi, and the majority of the time, four of them were bellowing, "JUST _KISS_!"... Needless to say, I managed to convert four out of five of my friends into yaoi addicts... Their "carvings" were satisfied every episode (my friends are more perverted than me... well, they used to be). I felt very pleased when I was able to spread the obsession. ;)

Guest (chapter 5): Thank you! I hope that I'll still be able to make this story interesting!

 **A/N July 31, 2015**

Hey guys, sorry for the long wait. This week was another busy week for me, and I have the final exams coming up next week. If I'm efficient with my time, I should be able to dish out another chapter by the end of this weekend (but I wouldn't take my word for it). So, basically I won't be able to update for an entire week...

I may go back to edit this chapter because I'm not entirely sure if I wrote Suna in character... I guess that it's time to watch some of the older episodes again and the newer ones (I still have yet to watch episode 16). After watching episode 15, I thought to myself, "Wow, Takeo's really becoming a lady magnet." I'll probably stay up until twelve or something (after I finish all my homework) watching the latest episodes and watching this new anime I recently got into, Gangsta (it's basically what it sounds like it's about).

I also need to find some good yaoi anime... I need some recommendations XD

As always, thank you for reading!

-ShootingStar103


	10. The Magnificent Mall

**Chapter 10. The Magnificent Mall**

The last week of school breezed by faster than the students expected. Of course, they had to deal with the frightening final exams, which terrorized them in their sleep (some students were affected more than others). Suna was the only student who didn't look like a zombie the entire week. On the other hand, Osamu was greatly affected. Before taking their math exam, Osamu recounted his terrifying nightmare of drowning in a sea of exams that all had huge, fat, red "Fs" written on them. He had jumped onto his desk howling, "Burn the exams! BURN THEM, or else they'll be the _death of us all_!", while waving his arms around like a crazed madman. The room erupted with anguished screams of terror. The majority of the students clung tightly onto the person next to them or hid under their desk. Ryuu and Takeo panicked and dashed out of the room as fast as they could, but before they did, they grabbed Suna (despite his protests) and carried him away to "safety" from the deadly exams. The poor math teacher was left with a room full of bawling, upset teenagers. She had the troublesome task of escorting sleep deprived, delirious Osamu to the nurse's office and calming down the class.

After the exams, the high school students were left with three days to relax and relish the last days of school before summer vacation. The professors allowed the students to talk and go onto their phones during class. The students quickly recovered and everything began to return back to normal.

On the last day of school, hollers of joy could be heard from all around the moment the final bell rang. The students flooded the hallways cheering and chattering noisily amongst themselves. The only reason why Suna and Ryuu didn't get lost in the crowd was because they followed Takeo out of the building, it was hard to miss the giant towering over everybody.

When the three walked home, Ryuu slung his arm over Suna's shoulder. He looked over at Suna and searched his face for any objections. Suna didn't appear to mind, the only expression Ryuu could discern was nonchalance (as usual). That was enough to bring a smile to Ryuu's face.

Takeo was humming happily to himself and gave a thumbs up to Ryuu, who saluted in return with a large grin on his face.

When the three high school students reached their apartment complex, Takeo took it as his cue to leave his two friends. Before he went into his apartment, he turned around and looked at Suna and Ryuu.

"Suna, Ryuu! Yamoto told me that she and her friends want to go the beach next Saturday! Do you guys want to come?" asked Takeo, with his hand already clasped around the doorknob of his apartment.

"Sure," replied Ryuu, turning to Suna, "Are you alright with that?" he asked Suna, waiting expectantly for Suna's answer.

"It's fine," Suna shrugged, knowing that even if he didn't want to go, Yamoto's friends would complain, and Takeo would force him to come.

"Great!" grunted Takeo, nodding with a smile and waving before he closed the door behind him.

Suna and Ryuu were left alone in the hallway.

"So... Suna, I was wondering if you'd be alright with going out with me tomorrow?" asked Ryuu, glancing anxiously at Suna.

Suna stared at Ryuu for a few seconds, a bit shocked that Ryuu had asked him that out of the blue.

"I don't mind, school is over so I'll have plenty of time," answered Suna, looking up at Ryuu.

"Really? Awesome! I was planning on going to the mall and then going a boat ride! Is that too much?" Ryuu scratched the back of his neck, blushing a little.

"Like I said, I have a lot of time, so it shouldn't be a problem," responded Suna, noticing that Ryuu's ears were turning bright red.

"Yoshi! I'll see you tomorrow then, Suna. Later!" Ryuu said, waving and running towards his apartment door.

Suna waved back, watching Ryuu disappear behind his door.

* * *

In the morning, to Ai and Oda's surprise, they found Suna preparing breakfast for the three of them (Suna's mother had gone out to visit their father).

"Oi, Suna, you know that you don't have school anymore, do you?" asked Ai, pulling out one of the chairs and sitting down.

"Yes, I know," replied Suna, not bothering to turn around and look at Ai because he was busy frying omelets.

"Then why are you up so early, little brother?" sighed Ai, sending a scowl at Oda, who had chosen to sit next to her and was giving her a sly smile.

"I have plans with a friend today," said Suna, transferring the sizzling omelet onto a clean, white plate.

"A friend?" repeated Ai, staring at her brother intently, wondering what in the world made her antisocial, quiet caterpillar brother "metamorphosize" into a "social butterfly".

"Hai," replied Suna, walking to the table and skillfully carrying the three plates of omelets.

"Whom is it?" inquired Ai, taking the plate from Suna's hands and looking at her brother curiously.

"Ryuu," Suna answered, taking a seat and refusing to look his sister in the eye.

Ai and Oda looked at each other briefly before Ai spoke.

" _Just_ Ryuu? Isn't Takeo coming?" asked Ai, trying to sound casual and picking up her chopsticks.

"No," replied Suna, before murmuring, "Itadakimasu."

The two young adults followed Suna's suit, and they ate in silence. Although Ai didn't question Suna more, she exchanged curious looks with Oda throughout the breakfast.

Finally, Suna finished his breakfast and briefly muttered, "Gochisousama," excusing himself and walking over to the sink to wash his dish.

After he dried his dish and set it on the dish rack to dry, Suna walked into the bathroom to brush his teeth and walked back to his bedroom to change (aware that Ai and Oda's eyes were glued to his back the entire time). He slipped on a clean, plain, sky blue collared shirt and pair of beige khakis.

When Suna walked out, Ai and Oda noticed that the teen's normally perfect appearance looked even more flawless than before (if that was even possible).

"See you Big Sis, Oda," Suna said quietly, walking out with his hand in the pocket of his khakis.

"Oh, see you Suna," replied Ai and Oda simultaneously, blinking and glancing at each other, puzzled why they had spoken exactly at the same time.

Once Suna was outside, Ai grabbed Oda's shoulders and shook the young man furiously.

"We're following him!" she hissed, running into her room to grab her things and leaving Oda swaying and staggering around the room, trying to regain his balance.

* * *

"Hey, Suna!" Ryuu called, waving excitedly and smiling widely.

Suna turned around and walked towards Ryuu, noticing that in place of the tall teen's school uniform was a striped, cotton T-shirt and a pair of navy jeans. Ryuu looked like he had tried to take his naturally mess hair, but his silky, black strands of hair were still all over the place. Suna didn't mind, in fact, it made Ryuu's appearance more endearing.

"Morning," Suna greeted, wondering where Ryuu got all of his energy.

"So, are you ready?" asked Ryuu, pumping his fist into the air.

"Yes," Suna replied, walking alongside Ryuu and feeling the enthusiasm radiating from the tall teen (to the point where it was almost contagious).

The two strolled to the metro station, and the entire time, Ryuu was talking his head off. Suna found himself occasionally commenting on and laughing at Ryuu's stories. After they stepped off the subway, Ryuu started talking about working in the cafe after the play.

"Oh yeah, I even took a photo of Takeo and me, look!" Ryuu exclaimed, patting the backpocket of his pants and taking out his smartphone.

He handed his phone to Suna, who took it with a curious expression on his face. When Suna's eyes settled on the photo, he wasn't sure what to think. All that he knew was that the photo was the most terrifying and hilarious thing he'd seen this year.

The phone screen showed Ryuu smiling cutely while making a peace sign (looking like a pretty high school girl) and Takeo looming from behind wearing a long, braided wig, pouting his lips (which were coated with too much red lipstick), and giving a the camera thumbs up. Takeo looked like the most _terrifying_ lunch lady on Earth.

Suna wondered what Yamoto would think if she saw Takeo dressed like that.

Suna covered his mouth, but Ryuu could see that the other teen's body was racking with laughter.

"I know, it's awesome isn't it?" grinned Ryuu (with a hint of rapture in his voice), taking his phone back from Suna.

"I'm not sure if awesome is the word... but..." Suna didn't finish his sentence, he was too busy trying to contain his laughter.

"Cute? Amazing? Stunningly beautiful?" asked Ryuu, placing his arms behind his head and sending Suna a mischievous smile, "Gorgeous, breathtaking?" continued Ryuu, stepping on the blue mat and causing the glass doors of the mall to slide open for Suna and him.

The two teens were greeted with cool, conditioned air and the cheerful chatter of the bustling shoppers.

"Don't get too full of yourself," reprimanded Suna, but it was hard to miss his small smile, which only made Ryuu's grin grow even wider.

"You know I'm _just too_ good-looking," teased Ryuu, winking flirtatiously at Suna.

Suna just rolled his eyes and stepped onto the escalator. Ryuu followed Suna and leaned against the rail of the escalator.

"So, where do you plan on going, _Mr. Handsome_?" asked Suna dryly, stepping off the escalator onto the metal platform and walking to the side.

Ryuu didn't seem to notice Suna's sarcasm and pointed at the crowded entrance of a bookstore.

"It's not much, but I thought that you might like to go there," answered Ryuu, smiling sheepishly and rubbing the back of his neck.

"OK," Suna replied, a little surprised and flattered that Ryuu had thought about what he wanted.

Suna and Ryuu made their way into the busy bookstore, looking around at the bookshelves filled with a multitude of books ranging from the genres of mystery to mythology. Suna made his way to the historical fiction section. Ryuu trailing after the intrigued teen.

The two teens didn't notice they had two "stalkers" inconspicuously spying on them.

Over by the magazine section, Ai was wearing her fashionable sunglasses and peering at her brother and Ryuu from behind the latest vogue magazine with a famous actress on the cover blowing a kiss. Next to her, Oda (who was wearing a pair of sunglasses Ai forced him to wear) was busy flipping through a magazine filled with busty women wearing bikinis and revealing outfits. He had his back faced to Suna and Ryuu and didn't appear to be paying any attention to the teens like Ai was.

"Oda, what do you think?" asked Ai, nudging the young man with her elbow, who appeared to be extremely engrossed in his "special magazine".

"Huh?" Oda sighed nonchalantly, not looking away from a photo of a model laying on a bed in a suggestive position while smiling coyly.

"You pervert! Stop reading those gross magazines!" Ai snapped, whacking Oda on the head with her vogue magazine, earning a small yelp from the young man.

"Fine..." Oda muttered, reluctantly putting away the magazine he was holding and reaching for another magazine that had shirtless, muscular men on the cover.

Ai groaned in exasperation and grabbed Oda's wrist, dragging the protesting man away from his beloved magazines.

"Ai, wait! That one has _Kawaguchi_ on the cover!" complained Oda, trying to reach for the magazine with the half-naked male model even as Ai hauled him out of the store.

"Shut up, you're making a scene," Ai hissed, tightening her grip on Oda and stalking away with him. Her high-heels clicked against the wooden floor while Oda's dress shoes scraped against the polished boards as he was pulled by the shirt outside. The majority of the bookstore shoppers' heads turned in the direction of the two adults, and a few teenagers and kids giggled.

Ai finally let go of Oda's red button up shirt when they were in front of a wooden bench facing the entrance of the bookstore.

"Jeez, you really are too much," sighed Ai, plopping down on the bench and crossing her arms and legs.

Oda just looked at Ai with a slightly sulky face.

"But that was so mean, Ai! You could have at least let me look through Kawaguchi-" Oda's whining was interrupted by Ai, who waved her hand dismissively.

"Anyways, did you manage to catch a glimpse of Suna and Ryuu?" asked Ai impatiently, looked up at Oda expectantly.

Oda stared at Ai blankly (from behind his glasses) before laughing sheepishly.

"Oh, I... haha... uh..." he chuckled awkwardly, cursing himself for neglecting his task of observing the two teens.

" _Oda,_ " Ai said, raising her voice slightly, causing the young man to shift uneasily (Oda could sense the imminent danger of Ai losing her temper... which was _not_ something he wanted to happen).

"OK, OK! Give me a few minutes! I'll watch them for a bit, and see if I can sense anything," pacified Oda, rushing towards the bookstore and leaving Ai alone, sitting on the bench fuming quietly.

After a few minutes, Oda emerged from the bookstore and walked towards Ai, taking a seat next to her.

"So, what did you see?" inquired Ai, peering over at Oda anxiously.

"They seem to both like each other," stated Oda, looking over at Ai with his hands casually clasped together in his lap.

"Like... in a friendly way?" asked Ai, leaning closer to Oda with her hands clasping her kneecaps.

"Ai, you know what I mean," replied Oda, stretching his arms into the air and letting out an airy sigh.

"Eh?" Ai uttered, dumbstruck.

She continued to stare at Oda from behind her sunglasses. Finally, after a few moments of silence, Ai spoke.

"Haha, very funny Oda," Ai said, forcing a little laugh and sneaking a glance over at Oda to see if the young man was joking.

"Ai, I know what I saw," asserted Oda, turning towards the young woman, who stopped mid-laugh.

Ai went quiet and Oda watched her curiously. Suddenly, the young woman let out a small breath.

"But... Suna's never been attracted to anybody before," began Ai, sounding rather confused, "And he's never shown an interest in boys or girls. From elementary school up until now..." she trailed off, staring at the bustling entrance of the bookstore in contemplation.

"Sometimes someone may find whom they're meant for, but others may not be that lucky," murmured Oda, resting his cheek in his hand and staring at the ice cream stand, "And sometimes the person they like is already taken," Oda added quietly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ai asked in a low voice, glaring at Oda menacingly.

Oda didn't make eye contact with Ai as he stood up and started walking towards the ice cream stand.

"Oh, nothing," Oda replied airily, turning around and smiling innocently at Ai (if his sunglasses were off, someone could see that Oda wore a slightly sad expression), "Anyways, let's go get some ice cream!" Oda said in an overly cheery voice, trying to cover up that he was feeling a bit down.

Ai sighed and stood up, following Oda reluctantly.

* * *

 **Review Replies**

Frostyfirea: Thank you for your feedback, I felt really relieved to know that Suna wasn't too out of character. At times, he's a challenging character for me to write since in the anime, he hasn't encountered someone he likes (so I can't predict how he's going to act under certain circumstances). Like Takeo said in the first... or was the second episode? Maybe it was the third? Ah, sorry, I'm getting off topic. Takeo told Suna that he was "hard to read", which he can be at times.

This week (when I had some free time), I tried looking up some yaoi anime. I ended up finding one that I really liked, and it was called Be Boy Kindnapp'n Idol. It was so cheesy, but it was pretty cute (sadly, it only had one episode). It was also the only teen-friendly yaoi anime I found. If I wasn't already tainted, I probably would have been scarred by the other yaoi anime I tried watching. I really wish that there was more yaoi anime (that's teen friendly)...

a-faux-pas: Wow, thank you! I literally floated into the sky (out of sheer happiness) when I read your review! I'm glad that you like Ryuu and think that this fanfiction is funny. Most of the time when I try to be funny, I end up laughing harder at my jokes than the people around me (I just realized how conceited that seems). I'm an interesting person, but then again, everyone's interesting in their own way. Like Takeo. Takeo is awesome!

 **A/N August 6, 2015**

Hey guys, sorry for the long wait and the short chapter. It was _supposed_ to be longer, but thanks to my computer, I lost a portion of this chapter. I am not happy. I need to remind myself to save my work every three to five minutes... Gah! Twenty minutes of writing. Gone. All gone. I felt like chucking my computer out the window, but I refrained myself and ended up punching the air like a mantis shrimp (sorry for the weird simile... if you look up facts about mantis shrimp, you'll understand why I chose to say that). Stupid, stupid, stupid. In the end, I decided that it would be best to include the boat ride and the other major scene that I'm was planning in the next chapter. Anyways, sorry for the rant. And again, I must apologize for the typos (I'll proofread this chapter again tonight to pick out what I can find).

I also want to mention that I finished my Chem final today. Oh-my-gosh-I-am-so-happy. I no longer have to worry about Chemistry for the rest of the summer (sadly there is only a week left of my "summer"). Now, I can actually do the things I want to do like... like... I don't know, draw, play tennis, continue writing this fanfiction, watching anime (one episode a day does not satisfy my cravings...).

I talk too much. I think that I should stop writing the author's note and get some sleep. This is what a week's worth of Chem torture has done to me. Hope you guys have an awesome, relaxing week ahead of you.

Thank you so much for reading,

-ShootingStar103


	11. Boats Plus Fireflies Equal Romance

**Chapter 11. Boats + Fireflies = Romance**

The mall was still (if not more) lively as ever. Little kids ran around the sitting area playing tag, causing a few elders to chuckle. They watched the energetic youths scurrying around the chairs. As they made a run for their "lives" from the older child who was "it", their thrilled squeals of terror filled the air. The sea of shoppers strolling by would turn their heads in the direction of the children. Some would laugh, while others would shake their heads disapprovingly (but not without an amused smile).

Suna and Ryuu walked out of the busy bookstore, each carrying a plastic bag filled with new, shiny-covered books.

"I'm assuming that you really like manga," Suna said, peering into Ryuu's bag and noticing that it was filled with at least ten comic books.

"Well... ever since I was kid, I loved flipping through the books and looking at all of the pictures. It was really cool to see the characters fighting and what kinds of super powers they had!" Ryuu explained enthusiastically, his face lighting up.

"What's your favorite manga?" Suna asked, curiously looking at Ryuu.

Ryuu answered Suna's question by clenching his right fist, thumping it on his chest, and loudly chanting a phrase (which sounded like German to Suna). Some of the passerby grinned at Ryuu, copied his gesture, or pretended to unsheathe imaginary swords and swing them at an imaginary foe.

Suna stared at Ryuu blankly, wondering whether he should understand the reference. Ryuu noticed Suna's confusion and explained to the other teen.

"It's a popular action manga, but I also watch the anime. It's about humans fighting these giants for the sake of humankind!" Ryuu summarized, a little shocked that Suna had never heard about it before.

"Ah, I see," Suna said, watching another group of little kids scrabbling on top of each other, trying to make a human pyramid in the middle of the mall plaza.

"Here," Ryuu said, rummaging through his bag and handing Suna a comic book.

"Thanks?" Suna said, accepting the manga and scrutinizing the cover, which had a drawing of a monstrous, fleshy monster with its mouth agape. It was trying to eat a human, who was about to slice the monster's face in half with what looked like two long knives. It didn't look like Suna's "cup of tea", who was mainly into mystery and historical fiction.

Even so, Suna carefully placed the manga into his bag, deciding that he would read it after he finished all of Nishimura Ryoko's latest novels.

Amidst the sea of shoppers, a group of gossiping girls walked towards Ryuu and Suna. The two attractive teenagers caught their eye. They almost immediately broke out into whispers and glanced over at Ryuu and Suna while blushing and giggling.

"Tell me what you think about it after you read it, OK?" requested Ryuu, glancing over at Suna and remaining oblivious to the girls staring and giggling at Suna and him.

"OK," replied Suna, ignoring the girls who were trying to catch his eye by twirling their hair coyly in their fingers.

Suddenly, when the girls were walking by, one of them walked _way_ too close to Suna. Their shoulders brushed. Then she and her friends giggled. That's when Ryuu started to notice. He looked over at the girls and slyly slung his arm over Suna's shoulder, pulling the quiet teen closer to him (looking overly protective of the smaller male). It only took the girls a few seconds to the message, but they didn't look disappointed. In fact, some tried to contain their quiet squeals, while the others gave Suna a thumbs up or nods of approval. The girl who had bumped into Suna bowed apologetically with an embarrassed look on her face.

A little surprised (but nevertheless happy) that the girls so supportive, Ryuu broke into a grin and gave them a three-finger salute.

Realizing that they were drawing attention to themselves, Ryuu reluctantly slid his hand off Suna's shoulder. Ryuu didn't mind dealing with unwanted stares, but he knew that Suna would feel uncomfortable.

Suna turned away, trying to hide his small smile from Ryuu. There was a warm feeling spreading throughout his chest. He wasn't used to it, but he was growing to like this strange emotion that was gently tugging at his heartstrings.

Suna and Ryuu spent the rest of their day wandering around the mall. When they were walking by a clothes shop for little girls, Suna went in to buy some outfits that he thought that Manami would like. Afterwards, they went to the food court to sample some sweets and buy bubble tea. They found a pair of lost twins (a five-year-old boy and girl) and helped them find their mother. The last thing the two did was ride on the new roller coaster. Suna had to steady Ryuu on the way out. It turned out that it was Ryuu's first time riding on a roller coaster... and he also had motion sickness.

By the time the two made it to the main mall plaza, the miniature clock tower in the center had its short hand pointing to seven. Ryuu led Suna out of the mall to the bus that would take them to the river. He told Suna the name of the stop they needed to get out. They stepped into the conditioned bus and sat next to each other on the red, cushioned seats.

"Sorry... I'm really tired... Can you please wake me up when we've reached the stop?" murmured Ryuu, his eyes slowly fluttering shut.

"Sure, I will," Suna replied, resting his elbow on his armrest and his cheek in his hand.

"Thanks..." whispered Ryuu, dozing off then leaning on Suna's shoulder.

Suna didn't flinch this time, but he did look over at Ryuu.

The sun was starting to set, and the city lights were slowly coming to life. The only noise audible was the whir of the bus' wheels and the cars zooming past.

Suna watched the light and shadow pass over Ryuu's face. He had never noticed how long Ryuu's eyelashes were, nor how angelic he looked when he was at peace. There were a few strands of raven hair that fell across Ryuu's face, which would flutter slightly whenever Ryuu let out a little breath from his mouth. Suna didn't notice that his hand was moving of its own accord to brush away the lone strands of hair. Before his hand could do that, Suna took control and stopped his hand midway.

Suna decided that it was better to look out the window instead of watching the attractive teen sleep. He could feel his face heating up a little, and he tried to ignore the light weight of Ryuu's head resting on his shoulder.

Suna found that instead of watching the flashing lights of the cars and city signs passing by, he was looking at Ryuu's reflection from the window. Swallowing, he scolded himself. Suna didn't know how long the bus ride was, but it felt like an eternity of torture and bliss for him.

Suddenly, the driver's cheerful voice blared through the speakers of the bus, rousing Ryuu. The driver annouced that they had arrived at their destination.

"Ryuu, we're here," Suna said quietly, gently shaking the stirring teen.

"Wha... Oh," Ryuu sighed, letting out a yawn.

In his confused, drowsy state, Ryuu wrapped his arms around Suna's waist and nuzzled Suna's shirt. Suna stiffened, and he felt his heart rate increase.

"Oi, Ryuu, we're here," Suna repeated, blushing and trying to push the tired teen away.

Ryuu groaned in protest, but he blinked a few times and slowly straightened up. Standing up and stretching, Ryuu picked up his bags and waited for Suna to scooch his way out. The tall teen gradually regained consciousness as he followed Suna out of the bus. Suna and Ryuu thanked the bus driver, who bowed at them in return.

Their shoes crunched against the gravel, and water gently lapped against the bank. The sun had completely disappeared beneath the horizon, leaving the pearl moon and diamond stars to take its place. Up ahead, there was a little building residing next to a wooden dock with little canoes.

Suna followed Ryuu inside the small building. They were greeted by an elderly woman sitting behind an ornate, wooden table. On the table was a small lamp that emitted soft, yellow light, which washed over the room. In the corner of the room was a grandfather clock. Its golden pendulum swung back and forth steadily behind its glass frame. The plain, cream walls of the room were decorated with photos of the riverside and people sitting in a canoe smiling cheerfully. Beneath a framed photo of the river at sunset, there was an ebony cabinet with a paper sign taped to it that read "Please place your non-waterproof belongings here". Suna and Ryuu stored their shopping bags in the cabinet then closed its doors.

"Good evening, how may I help you two young gentlemen?" lady asked in a worn, warm voice, giving the two teenagers a grandmotherly smile, which caused wrinkles by her eyes to cease slightly.

"Good evening auntie," Ryuu addressed the elderly woman politely, "I would like to buy two tickets," Ryuu requested, raising two of his fingers.

"Of course," the lady answered, sliding open a drawer filled with tickets.

Ryuu paid the elderly lady, and she gave him two crisp, shiny tickets.

"Have fun, both of you," said the elderly lady, patting Ryuu's hand gently and smiling at Suna.

"Have a good evening," said Ryuu and Suna, walking out into the cool, peaceful night.

The crickets chirped their soothing symphony and a small breeze rustled the teens' hair. Ryuu smiled at Suna as they walked to the dimly lit dock. There was an elderly man sitting on one of the wooden poles of the dock. He was wearing a well-worn baseball cap, despite there being no sun. When he noticed the two adolescents walking towards him, he placed his hands on his kneecaps and stood up slowly with a little grunt.

"Hello there young lads, I take that you've decided to go canoeing on this fine night?" asked the elderly man in a gruff (but not unfriendly) voice, tipping his cap at the two.

"Yes, uncle," Ryuu said, handing the man the two tickets with a smile.

The man shuffled the tickets and looked at them briefly before nodding to himself with a grunt. He gestured for the two teens to get into the canoe.

"Watch your step and try to keep your balance, fellows," he grunted, watching over Suna and Ryuu and balancing the canoe so that the adolescents wouldn't end up tipping the canoe over and tumbling into the river.

Once Ryuu and Suna were seated safely inside the boat, the elderly man nodded at the two and pushed the canoe into the river.

"Have a safe ride, and don't forget to follow the red ribbons," the elder instructed, pointing at the red ribbons each tied to the stalk of a cattail. They were evenly spaced from each other every ten meters or so.

"Gotcha, thanks uncle," Ryuu said, nodding at the elderly man before taking hold of the wooden paddles and stroking the water.

The elderly man smiled warmly at the two before he walked back to his wooden pole and sat down. The dock and the man became smaller and smaller the further Ryuu rowed away. Soon, all that was visible was a small speck that used to be the elderly man and a miniature dock glowing faintly in the distance. They disappeared from view once Ryuu guided the canoe to the right, following the red ribbons.

Suna looked around, listening to the quiet splashing of the paddle and the frogs croaking their lullaby. Suddenly, Ryuu spoke.

"Look, fireflies!" he exclaimed in a hushed voice, carefully setting the paddles inside the boat then pointing at the magical little specks of light.

They floated dreamily in the air, like a troupe of fairies. One of them landed on the side of Ryuu's head, making him look like he was wearing a glowing hairpin. Suna laughed quietly.

"There's one on your head," he notified Ryuu, giving the tall teen one of his rare smiles.

"Eh? Seriously?" Ryuu exclaimed, lightly patting his head frantically until he caught ahold of the cheeky bug.

It stayed in Ryuu's hand for a few seconds before flying off to join its family. Suna watched the fireflies curiously. The expression on his face made him look so much younger and innocent. Ryuu felt his breath catch in his throat. Although Ryuu liked Suna, he had never felt so captivated by the other teen before. Maybe it was the way Suna's eyes were wide and filled with naive curiosity. Maybe it was the way his face was lit up with a seraphic smile. Maybe it was both.

Ryuu found himself leaning towards Suna with his eyes half-closed. Suna didn't notice until their faces were inches apart. Then Ryuu closed the distance between their lips. Wrapping his arms around Suna's waist, he pulled the other teen closer, closed his eyes, and enjoyed the warmth of Suna's body against his.

Although their they had kissed in the play, this was different. Ryuu wasn't Rosen, and Suna wasn't Samuel. Ryuu was Ryuu, and Suna was Suna.

Surprisingly, Suna didn't try to break away. He was a little shocked, but he allowed himself to relax and savor the moment. Suna felt unexpectedly good in Ryuu's arms. It was strangely comforting.

After what seemed like an everlasting moment, the two slowly parted. Ryuu still didn't let go of Suna, and he nuzzled Suna's neck.

"You know, you're a really touchy person," Suna informed Ryuu quietly.

"Is that a bad thing?" Ryuu asked, his voice was muffled by Suna's shirt.

Suna paused before saying, "Not necessarily." Ryuu could hear the smile in Suna' voice.

* * *

When the two finally returned to their apartment complex, they were completely exhausted.

"Did you have fun, Suna?" asked Ryuu, and managing to grin at Suna despite how tired he was.

"Yes I did," Suna replied smiling softly at Ryuu, "Thank you for today."

Ryuu hugged Suna, and Suna heard the sound of the shopping bags crinkling.

"Oi, Ryuu," Suna sighed, patting the tall teen lightly on the back.

Ryuu straightened up, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Sorry, I'll try to be less touchy," he apologized, backing away from Suna.

"It's alright," Suna replied quietly, "Anyways, here are some books and clothes for Manami," Suna said, handing Ryuu a bag filled with adventure novels and girl clothes.

Ryuu stared at the bag, pleasantly surprised.

"Thank you Suna, Manami will love these!" Ryuu said gratefully, carefully taking the bag out of Suna's hands.

"It's nothing, really," Suna replied, waving his hand.

There was a pleasant silence, and the Ryuu stared at Suna endearingly.

"Well, goodnight Suna," Ryuu said, leaning towards Suna for another kiss (despite his promise to "try" to restrain his touchiness).

Then a loud bang caused the two freeze. Takeo's booming voice resounded throughout the quiet night.

"Suna! Ryuu! Welcome back!" he roared, waving his arms in a frenzied and disorganized manner.

Suna noticed that Takeo was holding two books in his hand.

"Oh, hi Takeo," Ryuu laughed (a bit too loudly), blushing and rubbing the back of his neck.

"... Hey, Takeo," Suna greeted the giant flatly, concealing his emotions behind his placid face.

"I heard you guys outside, and I remembered that I needed to give you guys something!" Takeo bellowed, nodding his head furiously.

In about half a second, Takeo somehow appeared in front of Suna and Ryuu's faces.

"Here," Takeo grunted, thrusting yaoi manga in front of each of the teenagers.

Suna hesitantly accepted the manga with a shadow casting over his face. On the other hand, Ryuu's face was about as red as newly blossomed rose.

"Ah... Takeo, this is great and all, but I think that I'll pass," choked Ryuu, waving his hands in front of his face frantically.

Unlike Suna, Ryuu had no idea it was impossible to turn down Takeo's generous offers.

"Take it," Takeo insisted, pushing the book into Ryuu's hands.

The drawing on the cover portrayed a half-naked couple kissing passionately on a unmade bed.

"Eh..." Ryuu stuttered, looking uncharacteristically flustered.

Takeo nodded purposefully, gave the two a thumbs up, and started walking towards his apartment.

"Have a good night Suna, Ryuu!" Takeo grunted with a smile, disappearing behind the door.

Suna and Ryuu were left outside, wondering what in the world they should do with the books that Takeo had so kindly given them.

* * *

 **Review Replies:**

a-faux-pas: I hope that this chapter was worth the wait *shifts nervously*. I'm really sorry that it took such a long time. I was being a lazy bum. I kept on telling myself, "OK, I'm going to finish this chapter tomorrow." Then the day after "tomorrow", I would tell myself the same thing. It was a really, really bad cycle. I'm super glad that I finally managed to finish this! I'll try to update sooner (let's hope that I don't jinx myself).

Stevenbomb2015: I'll try to plan ahead so that I can try to fit in Ryuu and Suna asking Yamoto/Takeo for relationship advice. Come to think of it, Yamoto's only made one appearance in this fanfiction... I feel like I need to write about her more... I'm planning on adding more "jealous bits" with Ryuu and Suna. I've never tried writing "jealous bits" before, so this should be fun.

All the best with dealing with the emotional crud, I believe that you can do it! Sometimes life may get messy (believe me, I'm dealt with a lot of crazy stuff in my life), but if you stay strong and pull through, things will get better. I promise.

Gabette Bomb-chan! :) And as always, thank you for your amazing ideas.

 **A/N August 11, 2015**

I couldn't log into fanfiction yesterday... I stayed up until eleven to finish this chapter, and when I had _just_ finished, fanfiction crashed... I was so frustrated because I didn't want this chapter to be any later than it already was...

Well guys, it's finally finished. Four hours of typing have finally paid off (I hope?). My main concern is that Suna and Ryuu are getting too "mushy". I blame that on my inner fujoshi... If you guys have any constructive criticism (that will help improve my writing), don't be afraid to shoot away. I promise I won't bite. Seriously.

Virtual cakes to those of you who can guess what Ryuu's favorite manga is! As much as I'd love to give you guys real cakes, it's physically impossible for me to transport a cake through my computer. Well, at least for now. Mwahaha. haha. ha. I'm too tired to do a proper evil laugh.

Thank you so much for reading, and may you guys have an awesome rest of the week!

-ShootingStar103


	12. Oda's Obsession

**Chapter 12. Oda's Obsession**

Suna stirred at the sound of the persistent, overly-cheerful alarm of his phone. As he was regaining his consciousness, he remembered the reason why he had set his alarm so early in the first place (although it was already summer vacation). Today was Saturday, which meant that he was supposed to go "on a trip" to the beach with Takeo, Yamoto (and her friends), the rowdy boys from his class, and Ryuu. Rolling onto his side, he took his phone from the oak nightstand beside his bed and swiped the screen to turn off the alarm. The time on his phone read 6:30 a.m. He gingerly placed his phone back onto the nightstand and groggily got out of bed to start with his normal morning routine.

By the time Suna had finished and had packed all of his spare clothes and money in a small, checkered bag, it was only 7:14 a.m. He had a little less than fifty minutes to read. Lying flat on his stomach on his bed, Suna started reading the manga Ryuu had given him. It was certainly something new for Suna, he usually didn't read comic books since he preferred to use his imagination to picture the events and characters. Strangely enough, he found it rather interested. However, after a few more chapters, Suna noticed how quickly the plot had escalated.

He wondered how many hours the mangaka had spent learning how to draw disembodied arms, legs, etc. It was not a pretty picture, nevertheless, the manga had an interesting plot.

When Suna was about to flip the page, he heard the pleasant chime of the doorbell. He slowly got up and neatly placed the manga in between the rest of his books held together by his plain, simple book holder. Taking his bag as he made his way out of the room, he walked to the door and pressed the button on the video camera monitor. The screen turned on in a flash, and Suna found himself looking at _both_ of Takeo and Ryuu's eyes up close.

"Hey guys, move back. You might smudge the camera lens," Suna said with a sigh, watching the two immediately backing up.

"Ittekimasu," Suna called over his shoulder, sitting down putting on his sandals.

"Itte...rasshai...," Ai replied, trying to stifle a yawn as she walked towards her brother.

Ai had never been an "early bird", especially over the weekends. Her hair resembled a bird's nest that had barely endured a hurricane, and her luridly pink shirt and muddy brown sweatpants were horrendously crumpled (probably from rolling around in her sleep). Her appearance was probably enough to convince little children that there was a zombie apocalypse. If Suna wasn't already "immune" to his sister's "fashionable" appearance, he would have quickly crept out of the apartment then run to the police station as quickly as he could.

"Oh... and Makoto, uh... make sure that you stay _safe_ , alright little brother?" the young woman laughed awkwardly and patted her brother softly on the shoulder.

"No need to worry big sis," Suna replied, not understanding what Ai was trying to imply.

"Ah... what I'm trying to say is..." Ai fumbled for her words, watching Suna giving her a blank stare.

"I'll be fine, don't worry too much," Suna reassured before heading out the door.

"Eh... Suna... wa-" before Ai could finish her sentence, her brother was already gone.

Staying frozen with her hand outstretched towards the door, Ai blinked a few times before processing that her brother had left. Sighing exasperatedly, she slouched against the wall.

"Jeez, who thought that being an older sister is such a huge responsibility?" groaned Ai, gathering herself together.

She nearly shrieked out of pure fright when she realized that Oda was standing only a few feet away from her.

"So, did you tell him?" asked Oda, appearing to be extremely interested.

"No, he left before I could go into further detail. Besides, I don't think that he even understood what I was _trying_ to tell him," grumbled Ai, straightening her posture and standing up with her arms crossed, "My brother is smart, but at times he can also be naive... too naive for his own good, I think."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to keep on researching for Suna won't we?" asked Oda, rubbing his hands together with a mad glint in his eyes.

"Oda, you're becoming too obsessed with yaoi, you pervert," scoffed Ai, rolling her eyes. Nevertheless, she didn't object when she followed Oda into his guest room.

When Oda opened the door, Ai's eyes widened and her jaw almost dropped to the floor at the sight. At least _twenty_ Boy's Love manga were strew across the guest room's originally clutter-free floor and Oda's made bed.

Oda gestured at the books like he was presenting a world-class billion-dollar art collection.

"It's time to get reading!" said Oda in a singsong voice, looking a little _too_ eager for his own good.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, on the bus..._

Although the teenagers had spent well over an hour sitting in the bus, their effervescence didn't ebb away as time ticked by.

Suna found himself looking out the bus window again. He had nothing else to do, since reading in a moving vehicle made him nauseous. Suna also didn't want to disturb Ryuu, who was sitting next to him and was reading a book that he seemed extremely interested in.

Suna tried to tune out all of the obnoxious hollers that traveled across the bus (two of the boys were attempting to have a decent conversation, in spite of both of them sitting on opposite ends of the bus), occasional loud bursts of raucous laughter, quiet murmurs of gossip, and Osamu and Nanako whispering sappy confessions of love to each other while clasping their hands together (looking like a married couple). There might as well have been little hearts floating into the air with angelic harp music around the two lovebirds. Aphrodite must have given the two an overdose of love.

A few seats back, Yamoto and Takeo were sitting together, modestly holding hands. Yamoto's heart-shaped face was flushed a light pink and Takeo's rectangular-shaped face looked like it was going to explode and rocket into the sky any moment.

Suna let out a little sigh, feeling a little melancholy. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on the rattling of the bus windows covered with small scratch marks (earned over many years from road detritus) and the wind whistling through the tiny crack of the glass.

Although Suna had never been one to want attention (in fact, he received _too_ much on a regular basis) a little part of him yearned to publicly express his affection for Ryuu... but that would just lead to more unwanted attention and possibly negative responses from the people around him. Yamoto and Takeo were lucky because the others accepted them, so were Osamu and Nanako. Suna wasn't too sure about how his peers would react if they found out about Ryuu and him. Suna felt a little queasy, and he knew that he wasn't feeling unwell because he was carsick.

"Suna, are you OK?" asked Ryuu, rousing Suna from his quiet pondering and gently placing his hand on Suna's shoulder.

Suna turned around to face Ryuu, trying to erase the small frown on his face. Ryuu had set down his book down (oddly enough, face down so that the cover was not showing) and his large, amber eyes were filled with pure concern.

"I'm fine..." Suna said quietly, noting how unconvincing he sounded and avoided making eye contact with Ryuu.

Ryuu, who had obviously noticed Suna's hesitant answer, furrowed his eyebrows.

"Suna, I want you to know that I'll do anything to help you. If you don't tell me what's wrong, I can't help you... and it makes me upset to see you sad," Ryuu blurted out vehemently.

Suna looked at the ground and clasped his hands together uncomfortably. He noticed that now, most of his peers' attention was directed towards Ryuu and him.

"I'll tell you later, right now..." Suna trailed off, looking at the ground with a troubled expression on his face.

Ryuu looked around, and nodded at Suna.

"Sorry, I raised my voice too much, didn't I?" apologized Ryuu sheepishly.

"Yes you did, baka," said Suna quietly (with a hint of affection) smiling to himself.

"Suna, how could you say that to me?" asked Ryuu, mocking an aghast, hurt look.

Suna just shook his head quietly and let out a small laugh. A small smile graced Ryuu's lips as he watched Suna.

"Ryuu, what are you reading?" asked Suna suddenly, wondering why Ryuu was so interested in his book.

Ryuu blinked and let out an eloquent, "Uh..." Suna noticed that the other teen's face was starting to flush red. After waiting for a few more moments, Suna knew that he wasn't going to get an answer.

He reached across Ryuu's lap see what the book was about.

"Wait, Suna-" Ryuu protested, wrapping his arms around Suna's waist in an attempt to haul Suna away from the book.

The more Ryuu struggled, the more Suna was determined to see why Ryuu desperately didn't want him to read the book. Suna didn't care that his clothes were slightly disheveled and his navy overshirt was starting to slide down his shoulder in the struggle.

Finally, he managed to grab the book and he opened it. Suna quickly set it down, staring at Ryuu wide-eyed. Ryuu's face turned an even darker shade of red.

"Pervert," Suna uttered, quickly seating himself in his normal spot and casting a wary glance at Ryuu.

"Suna! I can explain!" choked Ryuu, who looked like he was trying his best to coax out frightened kitten.

Suna was looking at Ryuu like he was some ferocious leopard that was planning on devouring him any instant.

"I was curious about the manga Takeo gave me, so I decided that I would read it," explained Ryuu, _hoping_ that he hadn't scared Suna away, "And I don't read it just to..." Ryuu cleared his throat awkwardly, "Uh... watch the main characters do that sort of stuff, I mean it's nice," Ryuu stuttered, quickly changing the topic, "But I mainly read the manga for the story, since it's interesting."

Although Suna didn't respond immediately, Ryuu noticed that he had relaxed a little bit.

"OK... that's understandable... Sorry, it's just that I've never really been into reading about..." Suna trailed off, coughing awkwardly, "Stuff... But I guess that I'm only one of the few guys that doesn't, now that I think about it."

"Seriously?" exclaimed Ryuu, goggling Suna.

"Yes..." Suna answered quietly, looking a little embarrassed.

Ryuu turned away from Suna because he couldn't handle how innocent Suna was. It was too cute.

Suddenly, the group of teenagers went quiet when they heard the sound of the driver turning on the microphone. The driver's weary voice blared through the speakers, announcing the stop.

The teens erupted into cheers, and the majority of the boys pumped their fists while hollering happily. The driver shook his head, looking like he couldn't wait to drop off the rowdy group of teenagers.

* * *

 **Review Replies:**

a-faux-pas: Haha, I usually tend to "insert" little references/crossovers. Congrats, *hands a cake that towers above a one-story building*.

It makes me really happy that Ryuu and Suna are growing on you, and I'll try my best to keep on writing :)

I'm also not sure why, but in the opening of My Love Story!, for some reason I keep on thinking that on the cake there's supposed to be a little Ryuu figure next to Suna's lonely one behind Takeo and Yamoto's...

Stevenbomb2015: Thank you so much for your advice! Yeah, I am not very good at transitions ( _especially_ in school essays...) and I'll try to focus my attention on them more.

I'll add the soul-cake to my "chapters to plan out" list! Thanks Bomb-chan-senpai XD

Guest: My inner fujoshi wants them to kiss more too. A lot more. But unfortunately, I don't think that having Suna and Ryuu "making out" all day would fit too well in this fanfiction (especially considering how close they are right now) which kind of bums me out sometimes because my fujoshi is screaming at me to write more "mushy stuff".

 **A/N August 16, 2015**

Hey guys, I'm really, really, really sorry for the short, terribly written chapter and review replies. Near the end, (as you guys have probably noticed) I didn't put as much thought into my writing and I rushed. When I have the time, I'm going to revise this chapter at the end of the day. I'm also guilty of this chapter being really late. Five days... I was going to start writing this chapter yesterday, but something upset me, so I didn't start writing until today...

Guys, I really love you, but may I please remind you guys not to take my OCs or copy my work. I can tell when someone is trying to copy my work (I know my writing style, and I know which sentences are completely copied) and frankly, it upsets me quite a bit... Just because my OC's appearance is altered _slightly_ (and has a different name) and the story line is _slightly_ different...

Anyways, I think that you guys get the point... I honestly don't want to talk about it too much. When something upsets me greatly, my writing quality decreases dramatically...

School is starting tomorrow, and that means that I will only be able to update once a week (or possibly two if I miraculously have enough time). I'll try to update every Saturday (today's Sunday in my area).

From here, it's going to be a long, bumpy ride. I really appreciate all the support you guys have given me, and I really hope that you guys will still continue reading this fanfiction *hugs everyone*.

Until next week, and thanks again everyone,

-ShootingStar103


	13. The Beach Bash

**Chapter 13. The Beach Bash  
**

In Osamu's excitement, he forgot to let go of Nanko's hand and almost dragged her into the men's changing room with the rest of his friends. Osamu only remembered when Suna lightly tapped him on the shoulder and politely reminded him to let go of his girlfriend's hand. Flustered, Osamu tried to apologize to his girlfriend in vain, but to his dismay, she had already fled the scene, squealing out of embarrassment. Osamu was left standing in the entrance of the change room with his hand outstretched, trembling in shock and horror. His friends had to lug him into the changing room while he was fervently whispering to himself like a madman, "I'm so sorry Nanko, so sorry, so, so, so sorry..."

Most of the boys immediately started stripping off their clothes the moment they stepped over the changing room's wooden threshold, but Suna was the only one who walked quietly into the changing stalls to slip on his beach attire in privacy. He avoided looking at the shirtless boys (and was extra careful not to stare at Ryuu) as he inconspicuously made his way to the stalls. Most of the boys were gawking at Takeo's magnificent six-pack and were babbling on about how awesome Takeo was and how they wished that they could be as buff as the giant.

Away from the ruckus of the boy's enthusiastic chatter and obnoxious snorts of laughter, Suna carefully locked the changing stall and hung his bag on the small, metal hook. It took Suna a while to get dressed into his unbuttoned, minty green shirt and crisp, white shorts. Afterwards, he had to do a thorough job of lathering his sunscreen onto his neck, face, arms, and legs. Suna had extremely sensitive skin, and he did not plan on getting sunburned. He mentally cringed when he recalled the time he had as a child.

Slinging his bag over his shoulder then unlocking the stall, Suna exited the men's changing room. The moment he stepped outside, a pleasant gust of wind tousled his hair, and it brought along the fresh scent of saltwater. Gingerly, Suna stepped out of the shade of the awning. He could feel the sun beating down on his skin. Hesitating for a few moments, Suna contemplated applying more sunscreen, but in the end, he decided against it, since he didn't want his skin to be caked with the thick lotion.

Slowly making his way to the umbrellas, Suna tried his best to avoid getting sand into his sandals. He barely avoided colliding into a group of children, who were squealing and playfully shoving each other around.

"Yo! Suna!" hollered a familiar, cheery voice from the water.

Suna looked up, only to see Ryuu sloshing through the water then running towards him barefoot across the sandy shore, waving his arms frantically. The tall teen was only wearing a pair of navy swim trunks, and the sun made the water droplets on his tan skin glisten. Suna couldn't help but stare and admire the view.

"Want to join us?" asked Ryuu enthusiastically, pointing at Takeo and the other boys (oblivious to the effect he had on Suna).

Takeo was currently hurling each of the boys at least twenty feet into the air nonstop. Some let out shrill screams of excitement and terror, while let out "manly shouts" before they "heroically" dived into the water. Most of the kids who were playing in the sand had stopped to watch the boys and were now excitedly pointing at the teens. They eagerly asking their mothers if they could join (only to be answered by a appalled "No!").

"... No thank you," Suna declined politely, averting his eyes from Ryuu (embarrassed by the fact that he couldn't stop his eyes from roaming around Ryuu's body), "I think I'll sit in the shade."

"Aw man... I was really hoping that you would," sighed Ryuu dejectedly, slumping his shoulders slightly.

"Ryuu... do you really think that I look like someone who would do that kind of stuff?" Suna asked dryly, looking at the boys failing around like awkward birds trying to take flight before plummeting into the refreshingly cool ocean water.

Ryuu hesitated before uttering a slightly defeated, "No..."

"But if you ever do have the urge to, you should join us!" urged Ryuu, the last part of his sentence was drowned out by Osamu's deafening "WOOOOHOOOO!".

"Alright," sighed Suna, waving at Ryuu as he started walking to the umbrellas, "I'll be over by the umbrellas if you need anything."

"Don't worry my prince, I'll call you when I'm in need of your help," cooed Ryuu breathily in the fasetto he had used back in the play, batting his eyelashes and clasping his hands together.

"Sure, princess," said Suna with an air of nonchalance, rolling his eyes (and trying to hide his smile with a cough).

"Will do," Ryuu replied cheekily, saluting at Suna before dashing towards the ocean then diving in and disappearing beneath the surface of the water.

Once Suna under the "sanctuary" of the umbrella's shade, he set down his bag on the fluffy towel and sat down. Although Suna was tempted to pull out his book, he decided against it because he decided that it would be nice to take a break from reading for a change.

He quietly observed his surroundings. There was another group of teenagers, who were busy playing a competitive match of beach volleyball. A group of young mothers were huddled together, discussing their children and complimenting each others' swimming suits. The fathers of the children were looking after their kids (and occasionally joining in with the fun).

"Suna!" called a silvery voice, snapping Suna out of his quiet musing.

Yamato was waving at Suna and was followed by her chattering group of friends. Suna smiled and raised his hand in acknowledgement, causing all of the girls (except Yamato) to blush furiously.

"Suna, is it OK if we share this umbrella with you?" chirped Yamato.

"I don't mind, go ahead," said Suna, moving over so that the girls could fit under the shade.

"Thank you, Suna!" chanted Yamato and her group of friends.

The girls quickly made themselves at home by spreading their towels across the powdery, white sand and setting all of their bags around the pole of the umbrella. Yamato chose to sit next to Suna.

"I'm so glad that you came today, Suna," said Yamato, clasping her arms around her legs and beaming at Suna.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" asked Suna kindly, smiling softly at his friend.

"Yes!" said Yamato (a bit too abruptly), "It's just that..." she faltered.

"What's the mattered?" asked Suna, he looked over at Yamato with concern.

Yamato looked to the left then the right, hugging her legs close to her chest while biting her lip.

"Um... It's just that... whenever I look at Takeo, I don't think that I can handle looking at him just in his swimming suit..." squeaked Yamato, burying her red face in her arms.

Suna smiled sympathetically at Yamato.

"I think that I know how you feel," he commented offhandedly, subconsciously glancing over at Ryuu, who was laughing loudly and participating in a water fight with the other boys.

Suna's comment caught Yamato's attention, and she lifted her head from her arms and followed Suna's gaze. It wasn't hard for her to piece the two together. Her eyes widened, and she sent Suna a shocked stare.

"Suna... do you like Ryuu-kun?" whispered Yamato, curiously gazing at her friend.

Suna flinched and looked around, making sure that no one else had heard.

Yamato's eyes widened even more, and she clasped her hands over her mouth.

"Don't worry Suna! I'll help you!" she reassured, her voice was an octave higher than usual.

Suna waved his hands politely, "It's alright Yamato, really... Ryuu and I are already..." he trailed off, blushing a light pink.

Yamato dropped her hands, and her mouth formed a little o.

"Congratulations, Suna!" she exclaimed, shaking Suna's hand like he had just won an award.

"Thanks?" uttered Suna, a little embarrassed that he had been so obvious about it.

Suddenly, the cheerful atmosphere darkened considerably when Suna noticed a group of men walking towards them with lecherous smirks.

All of the girls went quiet and were watching the men nervously.

"All of you, stay behind me," Suna ordered sternly, looking back at the girls, who nodded furiously.

"Oi! Pretty ladies!" hollered the leader of the pack, jerking his at the girls as a form of rude acknowledgement.

He was wearing a red hat backwards and a pair of white swim trunks. A ferocious-looking dragon was emblazoned on his chest, and he wore several tacky-looking "gold" necklaces around his skinny neck. He sauntered over to the group with a cocky smirk and invited himself to sit (along with his entire gang) next to Yamato and her group of friends. The men guffawed and tried to "seduce" Yamato and her friends, who protested fervently and tried to push the men away.

"Hey, they're obviously not interested, so why don't you take you business elsewhere?" said Suna coldly, receiving dark glares from the gang members.

"Why don't _you_ learn how to shut your mouth, pretty boy?" sneered the gang leader, slinging his arm over Yamato's shoulder, who was trying to push it off in vain.

Suna went silent, but he frowned to himself, wondering what he should do.

 _I need to find a way to alert Takeo, Ryuu, and the rest of my friends... but I can't leave the girls alone either..._

"Heh, you're all bark and no bite, aren't you?" slurred the gang leader, causing his gang to erupt into sniggers.

"Leave Sunakawa-kun alone!" exclaimed Yamato furiously, failing her fists around.

"My, my, you're a feisty one, aren't you?" chuckled the leader, caressing Yamato's cheek, who recoiled in disgust.

Suna snapped. He wasn't thinking when he grabbed the gang leader and wrestled him to the ground, freeing Yamato.

Unfortunately for Suna, although the gang leader was extremely scrawny, he was surprisingly good at fist fighting. Suna, who had no experience whatsoever, was out of luck. The gang leader easily pinned Suna down.

"Why you little-" snarled the gang leader, socking Suna in the stomach.

"Suna!" shrieked Yamato, who was now standing up and staring at her friend in horror.

"Run Yamato," wheezed Suna, taking the harsh blows without a sound, "Go get Takeo and the others!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Yamato ran as fast as she could (which was more like a slow jog) to the group of boys, begging for help at the top of her lungs.

Takeo and the boys noticed pretty quickly, and they all dashed towards the gang members hollering intimidating war cries.

Swearing loudly, the gang members scrambled to their feet and scurried away as fast as they could.

The casual beach visitors watched the stampede of a group of teenagers (and a giant) chasing a group of gangsters all the way across the beach.

Ryuu had stayed behind and was looking over Suna and the girls.

"Are you guys alright?" he asked, kneeling down and knitting his eyebrows together in concern.

"Ye-yes," stuttered the girls, skittish but unharmed.

"Suna helped us, but the gang leader..." Yamato faltered, glancing over at Suna, who was now sitting up, but clutching his stomach with a grimace of pain.

"Suna, could you please move your hand?" asked Ryuu softly, placing his hand on Suna's shoulder.

Suna nodded slowly and removed his hand. Ryuu stared at the dark bruises in horror.

"I just need so ice," said Suna quietly, "It's nothing too serious," he added.

Ryuu said nothing, but he swiftly (but carefully) picked up Suna bridal style, much to the other teen's embarrassment.

"Wh-what are you doing? I can walk, Ryuu!" protested Suna, blushing furiously.

"I'm going to carry you to the nearby restaurant that has ice. It's either this, or a piggyback ride," said Ryuu seriously, ignoring the girls, who were quietly trying to contain their squeals.

"What? Ryuu! Don't be ridiculous!" Suna choked, trying to squirm out of Ryuu's embrace, only to hiss in pain when he twisted around.

Finally, after half a minute of struggling, Suna gave up.

"Fine... piggyback ride..." he muttered quietly.

Ryuu lowered Suna onto the ground and let Suna mount his back.

"See you, ladies!" Ryuu called, winking at the group of girls, who grinned at him in return.

"See you, Ryuu and Suna!" they called after the two boys, waving.

Suna buried his face against Ryuu's bare back so that nobody would recognize him.

"This really is too much, you idiot," muttered Suna.

Although Ryuu didn't answer, Suna could feel Ryuu vibrating with laughter.

Ryuu's back was solid and warm, and he smelt of a mix of cologne and saltwater (which was a surprisingly pleasant scent).

Suna clung onto Ryuu tighter and closed his eyes. He was never going to admit that he liked this.

* * *

 **Review Replies:**

Guest (for Chapter 1 and 2):  I highly doubt that you're reading this, but erm... Thank you for your first and second review? I'm sorry that you don't like this fanfiction anymore because Suna's paired with a guy, but I did mention that there was going to be a gay pairing in first chapter. Maybe I should have made that clearer...

a-faux-pas: I'm so sorry for the late update! Thank you for being so patient and supportive as always!

lilangel25: I laughed when I saw your review. I understand that feeling all too well! It makes me really happy you ship Ryuu and Suna hard!

Stevenbomb2015: I hope that you liked this chapter (hopefully the piggyback ride wasn't too out of place...)! I'll try and see if I can somehow get Suna to lay his hands on yaoi... (I'm mentally laughing at the thought). "Pevy Suna" would be hilarious.

duchessliz: Maybe I should have said "anime for mature teens" (even I'm _not_ mature at all). Don't worry, I've watched a lot of stuff. It's just that the website that I looked up for "good yaoi anime" had some... really... uh... interesting stuff. Like really, really mature stuff (probably targeted towards people in their twenties). Honestly, I thought that I could handle anything... but sadly I was proven wrong...

 **A/N September 6, 2015**

Sorry for this really, really, really late update. I _was_ going to have this chapter up by yesterday, but I ended up reading five volumes of You Higuri's Cantarella... After the first volume, I told myself that I would start writing the next chapter. Then after the second I told myself the same thing. Then after the third, I knew that I couldn't stop reading. It's been a while since I've picked up a manga series, so manga is even more addicting. Also, (small spoilers for Cantarella's volume four) the protagonist ended up kissing a guy, so I ended up having a major freak-out... I started fanning my face, jumping around my room, and making sounds that resembled a dying animal (I didn't expect there it to be shounen-ai, even though there _were_ some hints here and there). I also scared my brother, because he thought that I was suffocating or something (he was close enough).

I won't be able to update as frequently anymore... but I'll try to work on this fanfiction when I have the time and the motivation.

You guys are really awesome, and I hope to see all of you soon,

-ShootingStar103


	14. Not a Chapter

**Not a Chapter (Sorry Guys)**

Hi guys... First of all, let me apologize. I'm really, really sorry for not being able to reach the deadlines I put for myself (you guys probably already noticed my failed attempts to meet the deadlines I put for myself _over_ and _over_ again. I think that I tried _four_ times, and that's not cool at all. It's not cool jerking around your chains).

I tried for a long time to write the next chapter, and I've been finding that I just can't. It's been over a month, and I've really tried to finished it, but I find that I just can't. I tried rewriting it and taking a different route, but the story has become rather depressing. It's really frustrating for me, and I feel like if I try to continue writing, this fanfiction will start to become really melodramatic and dark.

School has to do with a lot with it. I just feel deprived of happiness in general, and it's really hard for me to write "happy things" when I'm feeling so down.

Again, I'm really sorry guys, and I'll try to continue this fanfiction once I get myself back onto my feet. I'm not sure how long that will take, but hopefully it won't be too long. I also have a lot of reviews that I still have not to replied to, and I'll try to get around answering them when I get around writing the next chapter. Junior's year tough, but it's tough in a different way I expected it to be.

Thank you for being so supportive and awesome you guys, and I'll try to stay strong and try to get over my troubles soon so that I can continue writing,

-ShootingStar103


	15. The Greatest Fisherman in the World

_Brief A/N: 164 cm is about 5 ft. 4.5 in.  
_

* * *

 **Chapter 14. The Catch of the Year**

Ryuu had always loved running. When he was just a kid, he would constantly run around the house, giggling and trying to get his parents to join in by snatching whatever they were holding then dashing away. They would always let out a storm of creative curses then chase after Ryuu, threatening to tickle him. Ryuu had a lot of fun with that. He led his raging parents stumbling through intricate, newfangled routes around his house, and sometimes he would take them out for a refreshing "early morning jog" around the neighborhood. Their polite neighbors never asked why almost every Saturday, two cursing parents were floundering after their child, who on the other hand, was shrieking out of excitement and fear. Although his parents may not have admitted that they appreciated nor enjoyed these exhausting runs with Ryuu, Ryuu could tell that they did. He wanted to share with his parents the exhilarating experience of running, especially when he noticed that they were dog-tired from slaving away in front of their computers all day.

There was a certain thrill to running, the way it made his heart lively thunder in his chest, and the way the wind mischievously tousled his hair as he jogged along. However later on, Ryuu came to learn that it wasn't just running that he loved, it was the friends that he made running. It was a way for him to spend time with his friends and meet new people. Ironically, most of Ryuu's running friends weren't human, they were usually cats. It wasn't unusual to see a mewling clowder of chubby furballs dutifully trailing after the teen. But whether he was running with his kitty companions or human friends, Ryuu always experienced the same bubbly, happy feeling.

Ryuu hoped to take Suna out on a run someday. It would be a way for him to bond his boyfriend, and he was excited for that day. However, that day would not be _this_ day. Suna was badly bruised and was in no condition to go out for a run.

"Hey, Suna, we're almost there. Hang in there, OK?" said Ryuu, earning an muffled, embarrassed noise of acknowledgement from Suna.

Ryuu smiled to himself. Actually, this wasn't too bad. As he ran by, he took in the peaceful scenery. The ocean water was a pleasant sapphire, and it magically sparkled and shimmered under the radiant sun. The powdery, fine sand was warm, but not scorching hot, just the right temperature. And Suna was with him. He could feel Suna's soft breathes against his neck, and his warm chest against his back.

Ryuu was so encapsulated in the moment he forgot to look ahead of himself. And he also forgot to avoid running headlong into a metal pole. Which was exactly what he did.

With a resounding _ping_ and a two startled yelps, Ryuu nearly tumbled onto the ground and squashed Suna. Luckily he managed to regain his balance, allowing him to save his not-so-squashed-boyfriend. Unfortunately for Ryuu, Suna instinctively wrapped his arms around Ryuu's neck to the point Ryuu could not breathe.

"Ryuu, are you alright?" asked Suna, loosing his arms and allowing Ryuu to breath again.

"Haha, of course!" choked Ryuu, letting out an embarrassed laugh.

"I guess that makes the two of us who need ice packs," Suna said dryly, "And by the way, we're already in front of the restaurant."

"Oh," uttered Ryuu dumbly, feeling like even more of a fool. He carefully let Suna slide off his back.

"Thanks," said Suna, straightening out his unbuttoned shirt subconsciously.

When he finally looked over at Ryuu, Suna took a double take when he noticed the painful-looking bruise on Ryuu's forehead. In turn, Ryuu smiled at Suna sheepishly.

Suna hastily grabbed Ryuu's hand and led him into the restaurant. It looked more like Ryuu was the one who was hurt, not Suna.

"Excuse me, may I have two ice packs?" called Suna from the entrance politely, causing the silver-haired girl behind the wooden counter to jump at the sound of his voice.

"Ah-sure!" she squeaked, rummaging through the refrigerator.

She never looked up, so Suna never caught a glimpse of her face.

"Here," she said timidly, her large glasses flashed when she finally looked up at Suna.

Suddenly, the girl let out a little shriek, startling Suna and Ryuu. She dropped the ice packs then stooped, frantically fumbling her hands through the air (miraculously catching them both). On the other hand, Ryuu had instinctively pulled Suna into his arms at the shrill sound.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" the girl let out a frantic stream of apologizes.

Suna and Ryuu lost track of how many times she bowed.

"Please, don't worry too much," Suna reassured softly, and he paused for a few moments before saying, "It's good to see you again Amami."

"It's go-good to see you too, Suna!" Amami stuttered, she was shaking like there was a mini earthquake in the shop.

Ryuu subconsciously hugged Suna even closer to his chest, not liking the way Amami was giving his boyfriend googly eyes.

"Amami, this is Ryuu," Suna gave a strained smile as he tried to pry himself out of Ryuu's arms.

Finally, instead of focusing all of her attention on Suna, Amami looked up and noticed the tall, lean boy holding Suna in his arms.

She let out a small squeak of terror, but Ryuu offered her a friendly smile.

"Hi, nice to meet you," he greeted.

"He-hello Ryuu-kun," she stammered, flushing furiously.

Her owlish eyes seemed to grow wider when she noticed the somewhat intimate position Suna and Ryuu were in.

"A-ah! Here's your ice packs!" Amami exclaimed, handing the two teens while her face glowed a reddish hue.

"Thank you Amami," said Suna, straining to receive the ice packs from the trembling girl. It was still hard to move with Ryuu's arms wrapped around his waist.

"No-no problem!" Amami replied, her voice was unusually high, "Excuse me, I think that I'm going to look for something in the food storage room."

And with that, she skittered away, leaving Suna and Ryuu alone.

"... Ryuu, I think that you can let go of me now," Suna coughed quietly, lightly patting Ryuu's hand.

Ryuu quickly jumped back with his hands in the air, quickly muttering an apology, which was answered with a small chuckle from Suna.

"Here, we can take care of our _battle scars_ by the window," Suna joked, sending Ryuu a wry smile.

"Sure," Ryuu replied, walking over to the spotless table near the window after Suna.

Suna pulled out the white plastic chair then carefully set the ice packs on the table.

"I'll tend to you first," Ryuu said hastily, politely motioning for Suna to sit down.

He took some napkins from one of the trays from the table then placed them on Suna's abdomen. Afterwards, he placed the ice pack on Suna's stomach.

"Keep the ice pack on for 15 minutes, then take it off, OK?" instructed Ryuu, earning a small smile and nod of understanding from Suna.

"Well, well, I must be lucky to have a doctor," teased Suna, looking up at Ryuu with his eyes sparkling in amusement.

"The _finest_ doctor in all of Japan, Doctor Ryuu Kukio, at your service!" Ryuu proclaimed, flourishing the ice pack he was holding then giving Suna one of his famous winks, which only made Suna amusedly roll his eyes in response.

"I'm not that helpless though," said Suna jokingly, but with a touch of defensiveness.

"I know," Ryuu replied sheepishly, "But sometimes it feels nice for me to take care of you," he added quietly.

Suna's heart skipped a beat, and he felt his face heat up.

"To the point you have to carry me around the beach just because of a few bruises?" Suna said dryly, hoping to cover up his ballooning love sickness.

"It was worth it," shrugged Ryuu, "It's not everyday I get an excuse to carry you."

"You rascal, enough talk. Let's get that monstrous bluish lump of a bruise treated," Suna said, rolling his eyes and taking the ice pack from the plain white table.

Ryuu obediently sat next to Suna and allowed him to tend to his bruise.

"Thanks doctor," Ryuu grinned, leaning over then kissing Suna on the cheek to show his gratitude.

Suna didn't turn away, but his face was now a rosy red and his eyes were as wide as a doe's.

Suddenly, Suna's phone buzzed in his pocket, ruining the moment.

 _Oitsukenaiii oitsukitaii no niii_

 _Totsuzen monogatari..._

Both of the teens mentally cringed at the noise despite how pleasant the singer's voice was. Ryuu curiously glanced over as Suna checked his phone.

"Oh, it's from Takeo," uttered Suna, wondering what on Earth his best friend was up to.

He swiped the screen and checked his messages, only to see a photo Takeo beaming proudly with a large fishing net in his hand, looking like he was the best fisherman in the world. Or maybe the happiest gorilla in the world. His eyes were glimmering like the most well-polished diamonds, and he was smiling like he had made the catch of the year. However, his net wasn't filled with fish, rather people. More specifically, the yazuka that harassed Yamato and her gang and beat up Suna. They were squashing each other, and one of the guys had passed out after inhaling too much of another yazuka's foot odor.

The next message was a text from Takeo, which read:

 _SUNA! WE CAUGHT THEM! DON'T WORRY!_

About ten seconds later, Suna's phone buzzed again, and he checked his messages.

 _Yoooo, Suna! Dis is Osamu! Btw, I'm usin' Tak's fone bc the police just took him away. Don't owrry, they also took the yazuka._

Suna's phone buzzed again.

 _*worry_

* * *

After thanking Amami, the two teens walked to the police station. Ryuu offered to carry Suna again, but he was refused by a firm, "No thank you." Ryuu got the message.

It took about a good hour of trekking though the sandy beach to reach the police station.

When Suna swung open the pristine glass door, he was greeted with a very interesting scene.

Osamu and his friends were bombarding two overwhelmed police officers behind the spotless counter with loud protests, while Takeo was sulking in the corner with Yamoto patting his enormous, dinosaur-like hand with her dainty, child-like one.

None of the kids nor the police officers seemed to notice that Ryuu and Suna had already made their way in. They also probably wouldn't have noticed if a band of solemn, naked people holding up signs that read _WE COME IN PEACE_ quietly walked in. The police officers were too busy trying to defend themselves physically and verbally from the gang of ranting, raging teenagers, and the teenagers were too busy shouting insults at the police officers at the top of their lungs. Particularly Osamu.

"HOW-DARE-YOU-FINE-TAKEO, YOU-BEASTLYHEINOUSCONTEMPTIBLE-SAD-EXCUSES-OF-POLICE-OFFICERS!" proclaimed Osamu, shaking his fist dramatically as he trembled theatrically in rage.

His bushy hair appeared to be five times fuzzier than it usually was. Probably because of the invisible thunderclouds of rage hovering just inches above his head.

"What does heinous and contemptible mean?" whispered Ryuu, shifting closer to Suna subconsciously.

"Somewhere along the lines of evil," Suna answered, a little perplexed as to how Osamu knew such big words.

The police men, who were of respective age (around their mid-fifties), looked like they were going to wet their pants any moment. They cowered under the figure of the wrathful, 164 centimeter-tall teenager and his friends.

On the other side of the room, Nanako was sighing wistfully with her hands clasped to her cheek.

"Isn't Osamu so brave?" she cooed, letting out another lovesick, ten ton sugary-sweet sigh.

The other girls shook their heads in defeat, wondering whether there was a limit to Osamu and Nanako's universally large pool of love.

"... I think that I'm going to try calming Osamu..." Ryuu sighed, patting Suna on the shoulder.

"Good luck," replied Suna, looking like he sincerely meant it.

While Ryuu purposely made his way over to the police counter, where most of the madness was, Suna made his way to Takeo and Yamoto, who appeared to be _slightly_ calmer than the rest of the people in the chaotic police station.

"Hello Yamoto," greeted Suna, kneeling next to Yamoto, who was trying to comfort Takeo in vain.

"Oh! Suna! Sorry, I didn't see you!" exclaimed Yamoto, continuing to rub Takeo's back comfortingly.

Suddenly, Takeo mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "I have failed."

Yamoto rubbed Takeo's back even faster, as if she believed that her boyfriend would cheer up quicker the faster she rubbed his back.

"Suna... he... llo...," Takeo uttered, not even looking in Suna's direction.

"What's wrong?" Suna asked, looking over at Yamoto questioningly.

"Well... I guess Takeo's in a lot of trouble for stuffing the gangsters in the fish net... One of them claimed to have almost died of gas poisoning and suffocation," Yamoto explained, her eyes were starting to fill with tears.

Suna took a moment to pause, then he took out his phone.

"Yamoto, is the yazuka who's claiming this him?" Suna asked, pointing at the gangster squashed at the bottom of the net with a foot thrust in front of his face.

Yamoto squinted and let out a high-pitched humming sound.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure that's the guy," Yamoto affirmed, nodding furiously.

Suna wasn't sure whether he wanted to walk out in exasperation, break down laughing, or scold Takeo for doing something so foolish.

 **Review Replies:**

duchessliz: I know! There... are a lot of _interesting_ yaoi-related things on the internet... that have imprinted a permanent scar in my already-tainted-mind, but that still doesn't keep me from loving yaoi!

As for unexpected shounen-ai kisses... They are the absolute best. It's kind of awkward during class because when there so happens to be a short clip when two dudes kiss, I have a major freak-out. It takes all of my self-control not to fall out of my chair and roll on the ground, pumping my fist into the air.

Stevenbomb2015: I'm glad that you like the piggback ride! I was really tempted for it to lead to something more, but I mentally slapped myself for being so perverted X). I'll try to see what I can do with the rest of the ideas given to me, and I'll try to whip up a more creative scenario for the next chapter.

Guest: Thank you! I'm hoping to build on Ryuu and Suna's "cuteness" as the story progresses.

Guest: I'm glad this fanfiction made you fangirl! It's a wonderful, wonderful feeling. And wow, thanks for your review. I'm sorry for the really long wait. I'd really like to promise that the next update will be quicker, but I can't make any guarantees... But regardless of how long it takes me to write a chapter, I'm not planning on abandoning this fanfiction.

Diana Wong: I'll try my best to keep up writing! Sorry for the really long wait, and thank you so much for reading :)

Guest (Bloodfreakk): Thank you for your support, I've managed to haul myself back onto my feet (and hopefully will manage to stay standing). It's really tricky trying to find time to write, but I guess that I'll need to find a way to be more efficient with my homework so that I can!

Bipolar-Writer: Thank you so, so much for your kind words and advise. I've come to realize now that regardless of what other people say or do to me, overall they have no control over my life. Right now I'm focusing more on my homework instead of complaining all the things that are wrong with school.

Also, about Takeo reacting to Suna's confession that he likes Ryuu: I think that Takeo would have eloquently uttered a small "oh." Afterwards he probably would have blinked a couple of times to process the information, then clap Suna's shoulder, solemnly swearing that he would help Suna get together with Ryuu, since Suna had helped him get together with Yamoto. However, since Ryuu conveniently entered Takeo's room at the wrong time, that changed a lot of things. For one, it made Suna embarrassed and extremely upset and it also made Takeo less likely to intervene with Suna and Ryuu (since Takeo knows that when Suna's upset, he needs time to cool off). It actually would be pretty interesting to find out what Takeo would have done to "help" Suna... There are so many possibilities.

Sorry for rambling on and on!

Earl: Thanks, that's a really huge compliment! I hope that my writing skills haven't deteriorated too much though... I'm planning on working on building more of a plot to keep this fanfiction going and brush up on my character development (I feel like I've lost a grasp on Suna and Ryuu's characters since it's been so long, so I think that I'll need to take some time out to write down their personalities, life style, etc).

a-faux-pas: Thanks again for your encouragement! I wish you all the best with your fanfiction!

* * *

 **A/N November 10, 2015**

I can't believe that I actually finished this chapter... To be honest, I feel like this chapter ended too abruptly and wasn't as well-written as I wished that it could have been. I'll try to develop the plot more to make sure that this fanfiction isn't wandering off aimlessly.

Also, I've managed to clear up most of my problems in school, so in general I'm a lot happier (I still need to find time to start watching more anime...).

No matter how long I'll take to update, I'm not planning on abandoning Ryuu and Suna (and Manami, Ai, Oda, Takeo, Yamoto, Osamu, Nanako).

Thank you so much for reading,

-ShootingStar103


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